LIBRARY  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

AT  URBANA-CHAMPAIGN 

913.73 

P93a 

1835 


ILLINOIS 
HISTORICAL  SURVEY 


<?       'AMERICAN  ANTIQUITIES 


DISCOVERIES    IN  THE    WEST 


BEING  AN  EXHIBITION  OF  THE -EVIDENCE 

THAT    AN    ANCIENT    POPULATION    OF    PARTIALLY    CIVILIZED    NATIONS    DIFFERING 

ENTIRELY    FROM    THOSE    OF    THE    PRESENT    INDIANS    PEOPLED   AMERICA 

MANY    CENTURIES    BEFORE    ITS   DISCOVERY    BY    COLUMBUS, 

\NP    INQUIRIES    INTO  THEIR    ORIGIN, 


COPIOUS    DESCRIPTION 

OF  MANY  OF  THEIR  STUPENDOUS  WORKS,  NOW  IN  REIN.-:, 

WITH 

CONJECTURES  COXCERNIXO   WHAT  MAY  HAVE  BECOME  OF  THEM. 


Compiled  from  Travels,  Authentic  Sources*  and  the 
Researches  of  Antiquarian  Societies. 


BY    JOSIAH    PRIEST. 


Fifth  Edition.— 22.000  volumes  of  this  work  have  been  published  within  thirty  months 
for  subscribers  i  nljr. 


ALBANY : 

PRINTED  BY  HOFFMAN  AND  WHITK. 


1835. 


NORTHERN  DISTRICT  OF  NEW-YORK,  To  Wit 

Be  it  remembered,  that  on  the  twenty-first  day  of  March,  Anno  Domini  1833r 
Josiah  Priest,  of  the  said  district,  hath  deposited  in  this  office  a  book,  the 
title  of  which  is  in  the  words  following,  to  wit: — "American  Antiquities. 
.  and  Discoveries  in  the  West :  being  an  exhibition  of  the  evidence  that  an 
ancient  population  of  partially  civilized  nations,differing  entirely  from  those 
of  the  present  Indians,  peopled  America  many  centuries  before  its  discovery 
by  Columbus,  and  inquiries  into  their  origin,  with  a  copious  description  of 
of  many  of  their  stupendous  works,  now  in  ruins,  with  conjectures  concerning  what  may 
have  become  of  them.  Compiled  from  travels,  authentic  sources,  and  the  researches  of 
antiquarian  societies,  by  JOSIAH  PRIEST" — the  right  whereof  lie  claims  as  author  and 
proprietor,  in  conformity  with  an  act  of  Congress,  entitled  "An  act  to  amend  the  several 
acts  respecting  copy  rights." 

RUTGER  B.  MILEER, 
Clerk  U.  S.  D.  C.  N.  D.  A.  Y. 


q 

. 

r 

PREFACE. 

Although  the  subject  of  American  antiquities  is  every  where  surrounded 
with  its  mysteries,  yet  we  indulge  the  hope,  that  the  volume  we  now  present 
the  public,  will  not  be  unacceptable,  as  on  the  account  of  its  mysteriousness 
and  obscurity,  we  have  been  compelled  to  wander  widely  in  the  field  of  con- 
jecture, from  which  it  is  not  impossible  but  we  may  have  produced  some  ori- 
ginal and  novel  opinions. 

We  have  felt  that  we  are  bound  by  the  nature  of  the  subject  to  treat  wholly 
on  those  matters  which  relate  to  ages  preceding  the  discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus;  as  we  apprehend  no  subject  connected  with  the  history  of  the 
continent  since  that  time,  can  be  entitled  to  the  appellation  of  antiquities  of 
America. 

If  we  may  be  permitted  to  judge  from  the  liberal  subscription  this  work  has 
met  with,  notwithstanding  the  universal  prejudice  which  exists  against  sub- 
scribing for  books,  we  should  d*aw  the  conclusion,  that  this  curious  subject 
has  not  its  only  admirers  within  the  pales  ot  antiquarian  societies. 

If  it  is  pleasing  as  well  as  useful  to  know  the  history  of  one's  country — if  to 
feel  a  rising  interest  as  its  beginnings  are  unfolded — its  sufferings — its  wars — 
its  struggles — and  its  victories  delineated — why  not  also,  when  the  story  of 
its  antiquities,  though  of  a  graver  and  more  majestic  nature,  are  attempted  te 
be  rehearsed  ? 

The  traits  of  the  ancient  nations  of  the  old  world  are  every  where  shown  by 
the  fragments  of  dilapidated  cities,  pyramids  of  stone,  and  walls  of  wondroue 
length;  but  here  are  the  wrecks  of  empire,  whose  beginnings,  it  would  seem, 
are  older  than  any  of  these,  which  ai"e  the  mounds  and  works  of  the  west, 
towering  aloft,  as  if  their  builders  were  preparing  against  another  flood. 

We  have  undertaken  to  elicit  arguments,  from  what  we  suppose  evidence, 
that  the  Jirst  inhabitants  who  peopled  America,  came  on  by  land,  at  certain 
places  where  it  is  supposed  once  to  have  been  united  with  Asia,  Europe,  and 
Africa,  but  has  been  torn  asunder  by  the  force  of  earthquakes  and  the  irrup- 
tions of  the  waters,  so  that  what  animals  had  not  passed  over  before  this  great 
physical  rupture,  were  forever  excluded;  but  not  so  with  men,  as  they  could 
resort  to  the  use  of  boats. 


IV  PREFACE. 

We  liave  gathered  such  evidence  as  induces  a  belief  that  America  was, 
anciently,  inhabited  with  partially  civilized  and  agricultural  nations,  surpass- 
ing in  numbers  its  present  population.  This,  we  imagine,  we  prove,  in  the 
discovery  of  thousands  of  the  traits  of  the  ancient  operations  of  men  over  the 
entire  cultivated  parts  of  the  continent,  in  the  forms  and  under  the  character 
of  mounds  and  fortifications,  abounding  particularly  in  the  western  regions. 

We  have  also  ventured  conjectures  respecting  what  nations,  in  some  few 
instances,  may  have  settled  here — also  what  may  have  become  of  them.  We 
have  entered  on  an  examination  of  some  of  those  works,  and  of  some  of  the 
articles  found  on  opening  some  few  of  their  tumuli,  which  we  have  compared 
with  similar  articles  found  in  similar  works  in  various  parts  of  the  other  con- 
tinents, from  which  very  curious  results  are  ascertained. 

As  it  respects  some  of  the  ancient  nations  who  may  have  found  their  way 
hither,  we  perceive  a  strong  probability  that  not  only  Asiatic  nations, very 
soon  after  the  flood,  but  that  also  all  along  the  different  eras  of  time,  different 
races  of  men,  as  Polynesians,  Malays,  Australasians,  Phoenicians,  Egyptians, 
Greeks,  Romans,  Israelites,  Tartars,  Scandinavians,  Danes,  Norwegians, 
Welsh  and  Scotch,  have  colonized  different  parts  of  the  continent. 

We  have  also  attempted  to  show  that  America  was  peopled  before  the 
flood  ;  that  it  was  the  country  of  Noah,  and  the  place  where  the  ark  was 
erected.  The  highly  interesting  subject  of  American  antiquities,  we  are  in- 
clined to  believe,  is  but  just  commencing  to  be  developed.  The  immensity  of 
country  yet  beyond  the  settlements  of  men,  towards  the  Pacific,  is  yet  to  be 
explored  by  cultivation,  when  other  evidences,  and  wider  spread, will  come  to 
view,  affording  perhaps  more  definite  conclusions. 

As  aids  in  maturing  this  volume,  we  have  consulted  the  works  of  philoso- 
phers, historians,  travellers,  geographers,  gazetteers,  the  researches  of  anti- 
quarian societies,  with  miscellaneous  notices  on  this  subject,  as  found  in  the 
periodicals  of  the  day.  The  subject  has  proved  as  difficult  as  mysterious:  any 
disorder  and  inaccuracies,  therefore,  in  point  of  inferences  which  we  have 
made,  we  beg  may  not  become  the  subjects  of  the  severities  of  criticism. 

If,  however,  we  should  succeed  in  awakening  a  desire  to  a  farther  investi- 
gation of  this  curious  subject,  and  should  have  the  singular  happiness  of  secu- 
ring any  degree  of  public  respect,  and  of  giving  the  subscriber  an  equivalent 
for  his  patronage,  the  utmost  of  the  desires  of  the  author  will  be  realized. 

JOSIAH  PRIEST. 


CONTENTS. 


Pagt. 

Location  of  Mount  Ararat,  from  whence  mankind  after  the 
flood  repeopled  the  earth, 9 

Origin  of  human  complexions,  with  the  ancient  significa- 
tions of  the  three  sons  of  Noah, 14 

Respecting  a  division  of  the  earth,  by  Noah,   between  his 

three  sons,  Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth, 24 

The  identity  and  real  name  of  the  person  called  Melchise- 
dec,  of  the  Scriptures,    26 

Division  of  the  earth  by  convulsions,  in  the  days  of  Peleg, 
the  grandson  of  Noah,  and  of  the  first  spreading  out  of 
the  nations  after  the  flood,  with  other  curious  matter, ...        34 

Antiquities  of  western  America,  the  works  of  ancient  na- 
tions,          40 

Supposed  ruins  of  a  Roman  fort  at  Marietta,  in  Ohio,  and 
conjectures  how  the  Romans  may  have  known  of  this 
country, 44 

Course  of  the  ten  lost  tribes  of  Israel,  when  they  left  As- 
syria for  the  country  of  Arsareth, 58 

Convulsions  of  the  globe,which  separated  America  from  the 
two  continents  east  and  west  of  it,  and  of  the  removal  of 
large  islands, •  •  •  • 82 

Evidences  of  the  Danes  of  Europe  in  this  country,  as 
shown  by  various  traces  of  their  works, 86 


VI  CONTENTS. 

Page. 

Discoveries  on  the  Muskingum  river,  the  work  of  ancient 
European  people,  with  an  account  of  many  curious  mat- 
ters,          90 

Discoveries  of  the  remains  of  ancient  pottery  in  many  pla- 
ces of  the  west, 110 

Traces  of  an  Egyptian  custom  in  Kentucky,  in  the  disco- 
very of  a  catacomb  of  mummies, ■. 114 

A  curious  specimen  of  the  ancient  Phoenician  letters,  an 
ancient  people,  once  living  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean,         120 

A  remarkable  specimen  of  the  ancient  letters  or  alphabet  of 
America,  compared   with  the  ancient  Lybian  or  African 

alphabet, 122 

A  further  account  of  western  antiquities,  with  antideluvian 
traits,   and  of  the  means   by  which  the   fountains  of  the 

great  deep  were  broken  up, 129 

Discovery  of  a  curious  ivory  image  in  a  bone  mound  near 
Cincinnati,    by  some   supposed   to   represent   the  Virgin 

Mary  and  the  child  Jesus, 142 

cavern  of  the  west,  in   which   are   found   many   curious 

carvings,  done  by  the  ancient  inhabitants, 144 

Tracks  of  men  and  animals  found  impressed  in  a  rock  on 

the  top  of  a  mountain  in  Tennessee,  and  elsewhere, ....  156 
Story  of  Cotubamana,the  giant  chief  of  an  American  island  159 
A  further  account  of  discoveries  in  the  west,  as  given  by 

the  Antiquarian  Society,  at  Cincinnati, 104 

Immense  works  of  the  ancient  nations  on  the  east  side  of 

the  Muskingum, 107 

Ruins  of  ancient  works  at  Circleville,  Ohio,   109 

Ruins  of  ancient  works  on  Paint  creek,  Ohio, 172 

Ancient  wells  found  in  the  bottom  of  Paint  creek, 174 

A  description  of  western  tumuli  or  mounds, 177 


CONTENTS.  VU 

Page 

Works  of  the  ancient  nations  in  ruins  on  the  north  fork  of 

Paint  creek,  Onio, 189 

Traits  of  anctent  cities  on  the  Mississippi,  near  St.  Louis,     193 
Tradition  of  the  Mexican  natives  respecting  their  migration 

from  the  north  to  that  country, 195 

Supposed  uses  of  the  ancient  roads,  as  connected  with  the 

mounds,  still  traceable  in  some  places, 198 

Traits  of  the  Mosaic  history  found  among  the  Azteca  In- 
dians of  Mexico, 505 

A  curious  account  of  the  ceremonies  of  fire  worship, as  once 

practised  by  certain  tribes  on  the  Arkansas, 215 

Supposed  origin  of  fire  worship  among  the  ancients, 218 

A  further  account  of  western  antiquities,  compared  with  si- 
milar discoveries  in  Russia, 220 

A  curious  account  of  the  discovery  of  America  by  the  Nor- 
wegians and  Welch,  8  and  900  years  ago,  •  •  •  • 229 

Ruins  of  the  city  of  Gtolum,  built  of  hewn  stone,  800  miles 

below  New  Orleans, 246 

A  specimen  of  the  ancient  manner  of  the  American  nations, 

combining  their  letters  so  as  to  spell, 248 

Great  stone  calendar  of  the  Mexicans,  with  a  fac  simile  of 

the  engravings  on  it, 255 

State  of  the  arts  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America,  as 

shown  by  articles  found  in  their  tumuli, 263 

Great  size  of  some  of  the  Mexican  mounds, 274 

Predilection  of  the  ancients   to  pyramid  or  tumuli  building,     275 

A  curious  specimen  of  antediluvian  letters, 280 

Voyages  and  shipping  of  the  Mongol   Tartars,  and  settle- 
ments on  the  western  coast  of  America, 283 

A  further  account  of  western  discoveries, 290 

Various  opinions  of  antiquarians  respecting  the  original  in- 
habitants of  tbis  countrv, 293 


VIM  CONTENTS. 

Page 

Voyages  of  the  ancients  from  Italy  and  from  Africa  to  the 

continent  of  America  and  its  adjacent  islands, 298 

Further  remarks  on  the  subject  of  human  complexions, . . .     301 
Cannibalism  practised  in  America  and  in  other  countries,.     308 
The  Atlantic  nations  of  America,  by  C.  S.  Rafinesque, . . .      313 
Primitive  origin  of  the   English   language  by  C.  S.  Rafin- 
esque,        315 

An  account  of  colonies  of  Danes  in  America,  from  Europe,     322 
Ancient  chronology  of  the  Onguys  ©r  Iroquois  Indians,.  ..     335 
An  African  tradition  respecting  the  origin  of  human  com- 
plexions,       338 

Of  the  disappearance  of  many  ancient  lakes  of  the  west, 

and  of  the  formation  of  seacoal, 339 

Further  remarks  on  the  draining  of  the  western  country  of 

its  ancient  lakes,  356 

Supposed  causes  of  the  disappearance  of  the  ancient  Amer- 
ican inhabitants, 361 

Lake  Ontario  supposed  to  have  been  formed  by  the  crater 

of  a  volcano, 364 

Remarks  on  geology,  against  the  system  which  supposes  the 

earth  to  have  existed  many  ages  before  man  was  created,  371 
Remarks  of  Win.  Wirt  on  the  history  of  ancient  America,  377 
Resemblance  of  the  western  Indians  to  the  ancient  Greeks,     379 

Traits  of  the  Romans  in  America, 385 

Traits  of  white  nations  in  Georgia  and  Kentucky,  before 
Columbus'  time,  and  the  traditions  of  the  Indians  respect- 
ing them, 390 


AJIERICAIV  ANTIQUITIES 

AND 

DISCOVERIES  IN  THE  WEST 


A  lofty  summit  on  a  range  of  mountains,  called  Ararat,  in 
Asia,  furnished  the  resting  place  of  the  Ark,  which  contained  the 
progenitors  of  both  man  and  animals,  who  have  replenished  the 
Globe  since  the  era  of  the  Deluge. 

Ararat  is  a  chain  of  mountains,  running  partly  round  the  south- 
ern end  of  the  Caspian,  and  is  situated  between  the  Caspian  and 
Black  Seas  ;  in  latitude  north,  about  38  deg.  agreeing  with  the 
middle  of  the  United  States,  and  is  from  London,  a  distance  of 
about  two  thousand  four  hundred  miles,  in  a  southeasterly  course, 
and  from  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  State  of  New  York,  nearly  six 
thousand,  in  an  exact  easterly  direction. 

We  give  the  following  from  the  recent  travels  of  Sir  Robert 
Ker  Porter,  which  cannot  but  be  highly  interesting  ;  as  his  account 
respects  the  actual  appearance  of  Ararat,  having  examined  it 
himself,  in  1820. 

"On  leaving  our  halting  place,  where  we  had  rested  for  the 
night  a  fuller  view  of  the  great  plain  of  Ararat  gradually  expand^ 
ed  before  us,  and  the  mountain  itself  in  all  its  majesty,  began  to 
tower  to  the  very  canopy  of  heaven.  We  now  took  a  descending 
position  due  east  over  a  stony  and  difficult  road  ;  which  carried 


10  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

us  for  more  than  ten  werst,  (or  eight  miles)  through  several  close 
and  rocky  defiles,  till  we  reached  a  small  Mahometan  village  on 
the  side  of  the  Mosschian  hills,  where  we  again  halted  for  the 
night.  On  the  morning  of  the  17th,  we  set  forth  over  a  road  as 
bad  as  that  of  the  day  before,  in  a  direction  southeast,  and  grad- 
ually descending  from  a  great  height  through  a  very  extended 
slopeing  country  towards  the  immense  plain  of  Ararat. 

As  the  vale  opened  beneath  us  in  our  decent  my  whole  atten- 
tion became  absorbed  in  the  view  before  me.  A  vast  plain  peopled 
with  countless  villages,  and  the  subordinate  range  of  mountains 
skiriting  the  base  of  the  awful  monument  of  the  antediluvian  world. 
I  seemed  to  stand  on  a  stupendous  brink  in  the  history  of  man, 
uniting  the  two  races  of  men  before  and  after  the  flood.  But  it 
was  not  till  we  had  arrived  on  the  flat  plain  that  I  beheld  Ararat 
in  all  its  amplitude  of  grandeur.  From  the  spot  where  I  stood  it 
appeared  as  if  the  hugest  mountains  of  the  world  had  been  piled 
upon  each  other  to  form  this  sublime  immensity  of  earth,  rock  and 
snow.  The  icy  peaks  of  its  double  heads  rose  majestically  into 
the  clear  and  cloudless  heavens,  from  which  the  suns  rays  were 
reflected  in  an  ocean  of  light  glaring  around  its  summits.  This 
stage  of  the  view  united  the  utmost  points  of  the  grandeur  of  plain 
and  inaccessable  mountain  height.  The  inhabitants  dwelling  on 
the  plain,  around  this  mountain,  all  unite  in  reverencing  it  as  the 
haven  of  the  great  ship  which  preserved  the  father  of  mankind 
from  the  waters  of  the  deluge.  The  height  of  Ararat  has  never 
yet  been  stisfactorily  measured  ;  but  the  best  measurments  of  it 
was  taken  by  Montieth  of  the  Madras  engineers,  from  the  spot 
%vhere  Porter  viewed  it  to  the  highest  point  of  the  loftiest  head,  and 
was  found  to  be  fifty-five  thousand  yards,  which  is  full  five  miles 
and  a  half  perpendicular  altitude.  At  the  distance  of  about  a  half 
mile  from  the  highest  peak,  there  ascends  another  horn  or  point  of 
the  mountain,  but  not  as  high  as  the  former.  In  order  to  pro- 
duce those  two  peaks,  the  mountain,  a  great  distance  up,  is  di- 
vided. Between  these  two  points  on  the  narrow  vale  it  is  be- 
lieved the  Ark  rested,  as  it  was  impossible  that  it  could  have  rest- 
ed on  either  of  the  inaccessible  points,  which  have  never  been 
trodden  by  the  foot  of  man,  being  perpetually  covered  with  snow 
and  ice,  while  the  plain  around  is  adorned  with  verdure. 

On  the  eastern  side  of  this  mountain  the  slope  is  gentle,  so  far 
up  as  where  it  divides  into  the  fingers ;  but  on  the  other  sides  it 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  11 

is  very  steep,  jagged  and  precipitous,  giving  off  branches  in  a  con- 
fused and  broken  manner,  stretching  off  northward  after  the  gen- 
eral range  of  the  mountains  of  Armenia. 

This  peculiar  form  must  have  favored  the  descent  of  the  family 
of  Noah  into  the  plains  below  where  he  first  commenced  the  cul- 
tivation of  the  vine,  and  of  other  plants  calculated  to  produce  food. 

From  all  appearances,  this  tremendous  mountain  is  the  product 
of  internal  fires,  which  it  is  likely  were  in  operation  before  the 
flood,  as  no  traditions  of  the  inhabitants  speak  of  its  having  been 
a  volcano  since  that  time. 

The  descending  portion  of  the  country,  which  bounds  the  great 
plain  being  partly  round  the  base  of  Ararat,  favors  this  supposi- 
tion, as  well  also  as  the  nature  of  the  strata  which  forms  the  moun- 
tains giving  evidence,  by  the  vast  quantities  of  eruptive  matter 
that  here  burnt,  one  of  the  volcanic  fires  of  the  antediluvian  world." 
(Porters  Travels,  vol.  1,  pp.  181—185.; 

We  have  been  thus  particular  to  describe  the  exact  situation,  as 
generally  allowed,  of  that  range  of  mountains  ;  because  from  this 
place,  which  is  nearly  on  the  western  end  of  the  Asiatic  continent, 
Noah  and  his  posterity  descended,  and  spread  themselves  over 
many  parts  of  the  earth,  and  as  we  suppose,  even  to  America,  re- 
newing the  race  of  man,  which  well  nigh  had  become  extinct  from 
the  devastation  and  ruin  of  the  universal  flood. 

But  that  the  flood  of  Noah  was  universal  is  gravely  doubted  ; 
in  proof  of  which,  the  abettors  of  this  doubt,  bring  the  traditional 
history  of  the  ancient  Chinese.  Professor  Rafinesque,  of  the  city 
of  Philadelphia,  confessedly  a  learned  and  most  able  antiquarian, 
has  recently  advanced  the  following  exceedingly  interesting  and 
curious  matter,  which  relates  to  this  subject,  as  follows. 

"History  of  China  before  the  Flood.  The  traditions  preserved 
by  many  ancient  nations  of  the  earliest  history  of  the  earth  and 
mankind,  before  and  after  the  great  floods,  which  have  desolated 
the  globe,  are  highly  interesting. 

Ancient  China  was  in  the  eastern  slopes  and  branches  of  the 
mouutains  of  Central  Asia,  the  hoary  Jmalai/a,  where  it  is  as  yet 
very  doubtful  whether  the  flood  thoroughly  extended." 

But  though  this  is  doubted,  we  cannot  subscribe  to  the  opinion, 
however  great  our  deference  mny  be  for  the  ability  and  research 

of  those  who  have  ventured  to  doubt.     We  feel  by  far  a  greater 


12  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

deference  for  the  statement  of  the  Hebrew  author  of  the  book  of 
Genesis  ;  an  historian  of  the  highest  accredited  antiquity.  This 
author  says  plainly,  that  "all  the  high  hills  under  the  whole  heav- 
en were  covered  ;"  and  that  "fifteen  cubits  and  upwards,  the  wa- 
ters prevailed  ;  and  the  mountains  were  covered."  But  not  so,  if 
we  are  to  believe  the  above  suggestion,  which  would  leave  a  very 
large  tract  of  country  of  Central  Asia  exempt  from  the  flood  of 
Noah. 

This  opinion,  which  contradicts  the  Bible  account  of  that  flood, 
is  founded  on  "the  traditional  history  of  China^  which  speaks  of 
two  great  floods  which  desolated,  but  did  not  overflow  the  land. 
They  answer,  says  Mr.  Rafinesque,  to  the  two  great  floods  of 
Noah  and  Peleg,  recorded  in  the  Bible.  "The  latter,  the  flood  of 
Peleg,  or  Yao,  was  caused,  he  says^  by  volcanic  paroxysms  all 
over  the  earth  ;"  but  "much  less  fatal  than  the  flood  of  Noah,  or 
Yu-ti,  in  China,"  which  was  no  doubt  the  fact. 

Respecting  this  flood,  "the  following  details  are  taken  chiefly 
from  the  Chinese  historians,  Liu-yu  and  Lo-pi,  whose  works  are 
called  Y-tese,  and  Uai-ki,  as  translated  by  Leroux."  These  say, 
that  "the  first  flood  happened  under  the  8th  Ki,  or  period  called 
Yu-ti,  and  the  first  emperor  of  it,"  was  "Chinsang,  about  3170 
years  before  Christ,"  826  before  the  flood. 

But  neither  can  this  be  true,  as  the  flood  of  Noah  took  place  1656 
years  from  the  creation, ^which  would  be  but  2344  years  before 
Christ  ;  being  a  mistake  of  about  826  years.  Wherefore,  if  there 
is  any  truth  in  the  Chinese  history  at  all,  it  must  allude  to  some 
flood  before  that  of  Noah  ;  an  account  of  which  may  have  been 
received  from  Noah  himself,  and  preserved  by  the  Chinese. 

The  flood  alluded  to,  by  the  above  named  historians,  did  not,  it  is 
true,  according  to  their  account,  overflow  the  whole  earth,  but  was 
such  as  that  the  waters  did  not  return  to  their  usual  channels  for 
a  long  time;  "The  misery  of  mankind  was  extreme  ;  the  beasts 
and  serpents  were  very  numerous  ;"  being  driven  together  by  the 
pursuit  of  the  waters,  and  also  "storms  and  cold"  had  greatly  in- 
creased. Chin-sang  collected  the  wandering  men  to  unite  against 
the  wild  beasts,  to  dress  their  skins  for  clothing,  and  to  weave  their 
fur  into  webs  and  caps.  This  emperor  was  venerated  for  these 
benefits,  and  began  a  Shi,  or  dynasty  that  lasted  350  years." 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IX    THE    WEST.  13 

This  account  would  suit  very  well  to  the  character  of  Nimrod 
the  founder  of  the  first  monarchy  after  the  flood,  whom  we  are 
much  inclined  to  think  the  Chinese  historians  point  out,  instead  of 
any  king  before  the  era  of  the  flood  of  Noah. 

But  to  the  research  of  the  highly  gifted  antiquarian,  Rafinesque, 
we  are  greatly  indebted  in  one  important  respect,  as  it  is  well  known 
that  persons  in  the  learned  world  have  greatly  admired  the  boast- 
ed antiquity  of  the  Chinese  nations,  who,  by  their  records,  make 
the  earth  much  older  than  the  account  given  by  Moses.  But  this 
philosopher  on  this  subject  writes  as  follows  :  "The  two  Chinese 
words,  Ki  and  Shi  translated  period  and  dynasty,  or  family,  are 
of  some  importance.  As  they  now  stand  translated,  they  would 
make  the  world  very  old  ;  since  no  less  than  ten  Ki,  or  periods, 
are  enumerated,  (we  are  in  the  10th  ;)  wherein  232  Shi,  or  dy- 
nasties of  emperors,  are  said  to  have  ruled  in  China,  during  a 
course  of  276,480  years  Christ,  at  the  lowest  computation  ;  and 
96,982,220  before  Christ,  at  the  highest  ;  with  many  intermedia- 
ry calculations,  by  various  authors. 

But  if  Ki,  he  says,  may  also  mean  a  dynasty,  or  division,  or 
people,  as  it  appears  to  do  in  some  instances,  and  Shi,  an  age,  or 
a  tribe,  or  reign,  the  whole  preposterous  computation  will  prove 
false,  or  be  easily  reduced  to  agree  with  those  of  the  Hindoos,  Per- 
sians and  Egyptians  ;"  and  come  within  the  age  of  the  earth  as 
given  in  the  Scriptures. 

If  the  central  region  of  Asia,  may  have  been  exempted  from 
that  flood,  we  may  then  safely  inquire  whether  other  parts  of  the 
globe  may  not  also  have  been  exempt  ;  where  men  and  animals 
were  preserved  ;  and  thus  the  acccunt  of  the  Ark,  in  which,  as 
related  by  Moses,  both  men  and  animals  were  saved,  is  completely 
overturned.  But  the  universal  traditions  of  all  nations,  contradict 
this,  while  the  earth,  every  where  shows  signs  of  the  operations 
of  the  waters,  in  agreement  with  this  universal  tradition.  If  such 
a  flood  never  took  place,  which  rushed  over  the  earth  with  extra- 
ordinary violence,  how,  it  may  be  enquired,  are  there  found  in  Si- 
beria, in  north  latitude  60  and  70  deg.  great  masses  of  the  bones 
of  the  elephant  and  rhinoceros — animals  of  the  hot  regions  of  the 
equator.  From  this  it  is  evident  that  the  flood  which  wafted  the 
bodies  of  those  animals, rolled  exactly  over  all  China  and  the  Hindoo 
regions.     In  all  parts  of  the  earth,  even  on  the  highest  regions  and 


14  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

mountains,  are  found  oceanic  remains.  Whales  have  been  found 
in  the  mountains  of  Greenland,  and  also  in  other  parts,  as  in  Amer- 
ica, far  from  the  ocean. 

Chinese  history,  it  is  true,  gives  an  account  of  many  floods, 
which  have  ruined  whole  tracts  of  that  country,  as  many  as  sixty- 
five,  one  of  which,  in  the  year  185  before  Christ,  it  is  said,  form- 
ed that  body  of  water  called  the  Yellow  Sea,  situated  between  Co- 
rea  and  China. 

But  were  the  histoy  of  American  floods  written,  occasioned  by 
similar  causes  :  such  as  rivers  rupturing  their  mountain  barriers  ; 
and  the  shocks  of  earthquakes,  since  the  time  of  Noah's  flood  ; 
Avho  could  say  there  would  not  be  as  many.  We  shall  have  oc- 
casion to  speak  of  this  subject  before  we  close  this  volume. 

It  is  said  that  the  history  of  China  gives  an  account  of  the  state 
of  mankind  before  the  flood  of  Yuti,  or  Noah,  and  represents  them 
as  having  been  happy,  ruled  by  benevolent  monarchs,  who  took 
nothing  and  gave  much  ;  the  world  submitted  to  their  virtues  and 
good  laws  ;  they  wore  no  crowns,  but  long  hair  ;  never  made  war, 
and  put  no  one  to  death.  But  this  is  also  contrary  to  the  account 
of  Moses  ;  who  says  the  earth  before  the  flood  was  corrupt  before 
God,  and  was  filled  with  violence.  But  they  carry  their  descrip- 
tion of  the  happiness  of  men  so  high,  as  to  represent  perfect  har- 
mony as  having  existed  between  men  and  animals  ;  when  men  liv- 
ed on  roots  and  the  fruits  of  the  earth  ;  that  they  did  not  follow 
hunting  ;  property  was  common,  and  universal  concord  prevailed. 
From  this  high  wrought  account  of  the  pristine  happiness  of  man, 
we  are  at  once  referred  to  the  original  state  of  Adam  in  Paradise, 
and  to  his  patriarchal  government  after  his  fall  and  it  is  likely  also 
to  that  of  his  successors,  till  men  had  multiplied  in  the  earth  ;  so  as 
to  form  conflicting  interests,  when  the  rapine  and  violence  com- 
menced, as  spoken  of  by  Moses,  which  it  seems  grew  worse  and 
worse,  till  the  flood  came  and  took  them  all  away. 

That  the  central  parts  of  Asia  were  not  overflown  by  the  deluge, 
appears  of  vast  importance  to  some  philosophers  of  the  present 
day  to  be  established.  For  if  so,  we  see,  say  they  at  once,  how 
both  men  and  animals  were  preserved  from  that  flood  ;  and  yet  this 
does  not,  they  say,  militate  against  the  Mosaic  account  ;  for  the 
very  word  ark  is  in  the  original  language,  theba  and  signifies  re- 
fuge, and  is  the  country  of  Thibet.     So  that  when  Moses  talked 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  15 

about  an  ark,  he  only  meant  the  central  part  of  Asia,  or  Thibet, 
in  which  men  and  animals  were  saved,  instead  of  a  vessel. 

Theba,  or  Thibet,  situated  in  what  is  called  Central  Asia,  and  in 
size  equal  to  three  fourths  of  the  area  of  the  United  States,  is  in- 
deed the  highest  part  of  that  continent,  and  produces  mountains 
higher  than  any  other  part  of  the  earth  :  yet  Moses  says,  that  the 
flood  prevailed  fifteen  cubits  and  upwards  above  the  highest  moun- 
tains. 

Thibet  is  situated  in  latitude  30  degrees  north,  exactly  between 
Farther  India,  Hindostan  and  Siberia,  where  banks  of  the  bones 
of  equatorial  animals  are  found,  as  we  have  noticed;  by  which  we 
ascertain  that  the  deluge  rolled  over  this  very  Theba,  the  country 
supposed  to  have  been  left  dry  at  the  time  of  Noah's  flood. 

The  Mosaic  account  plainly  says  that  God  said  to  Noah,  "  make 
thee  an  ark  of  gopher  woody  Surely  Noah  did  not  make  the  cen- 
tral part  of  Asia,  called  Theba  or  Thibet  ;  neither  was  he  com- 
manded to  do  so,  as  it  would  have  taken  much  gopher  wood  to 
have  formed  the  whole,  or  a  part  of  so  large  a  country.  But  re- 
specting the  word  which  is  translated  ark  in  the  scriptures,  it  is 
said  by  Adam  Clarke  to  be  in  the  original  Tebath,  and  not  Theba. 

The  word  Tebath,  he  says,  signifies  vessel,  and  means  no  more 
nor  less  than  a  vessel,  in  its  most  common  acceptation,  a  hollow 
place,  capable  of  containing  persons,  goods,  &c.  The  idea,  there- 
fore, that  the  word  ark  signified  the  central  parts  of  Asia,  called 
Theba  or  Thibet,  falls  to  the  ground;  while  the  history,  as  given 
by  Moses,  respecting  the  flood  of  Noah,  remains  unshaken. 

The  same  author  has  also  discovered  that  a  race  of  ancient 
people  in  South  America,  called  the  Zaj.otecas,  boast  of  being  an- 
tediluvian in  America,  and  to  have  built  the  city  of  Coat-Ian,  so 
named  because  this  city  was  founded  at  a  place  which  swarmed 
with  serpents,  therefore  named  Snake  city,  or  Coat-Ian,  built  327 
years  before  the  flood,  and  that  at  the  time  of  the  flood,  a  remnant 
of  them,  together  with  their  king,  named  Pet-ela,  (or  dog,)  saved 
themselves  on  a  mountain  of  the  same  name,  Coat-Ian. 

But  we  consider  this  tradition  to  relate  only  to  theirs/  efforts  at 
architecture  after  the  flood  of  Noah,  round  about  the  region  of 
Ararat,  and  on  the  plains  of  Shinar.  The  very  circumstance  of 
this  tribe  being  still  designated  by  that  of  the  Dog  tribe,  is  an  evi- 


16  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

dence  that  they  originated  not  before  the  flood  as  a  nation,  but  in 
Asia,  since  that  era;  for  in  Asia,  as  in  America,  tribes  of  men 
have  also  been  thus  designated,  and  called  after  the  various  ani- 
mals of  the  woods.  The  Snake  Indians  are  well  known  to  the 
western  explorers  in  America,  as  also  many  other  tribes,  who  are 
named  after  various  wild  animals.  And  the  circumstance  of  their 
city  being  built  at  a  place  where  there  were  many  serpents,  shows 
the  allusion  to  point  to  the  same  time  and  place  spoken  of  on  page 
11,  where  the  Chinese  historians,  Liu-yu  and  Lo-pi  say  the  ser- 
pents were  driven  together  by  the  waters,  at  the  flood  of  Peleg, — 
where,according  to  the  Zapotecas,the  city  of  Snakes,  or  Coat-Ian, 
was  built. 

Many  of  the  first  nations  were  called  after  serpents, — as  the 
Hivites,  the  Ophites,  the  Elhiops,  or  Ethiopians,  Bassolidians.&c. 
— all  derived,  it  is  likely,  from  circumstances  variously  relating  to 
the  abundance  of  serpents  in  those  times,  and  abounding  at  certain 
places  more  than  others.  Even  the  adoration  and  worship  of  that 
terrible  reptile  obtained  among  many  nations,  before  as  well  as 
after  the  Christian  era. 


Supposed  Origin  of  Human  Co?nplexions,  with  the  ancient 
signification  of  the  names  of  the  three  sons  of  Noah,  and 
other  curious  matter. 

The  sons  of  Noah  were  three,  as  stated  in  the  book  of  Genesis, 
between  whose  descendants,  the  whole  earth,  in  process  of  time, 
became  divided.  This  division  appears  to  have  taken  place  in  tiie 
earliest  ages  of  theirs*  nations  after  the  flood,  in  such  manner  as 
to  suit  or  correspond  with  the  several  constitutions  of  those  nations 
in  a  physical  sense,  as  well  as  with  a  reference  to  the  various 
complexions  of  the  descendants  of  these  three  heads  of  the  human 
race. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  17 

This  preparation  of  the  nations,  respecting  animal  constitution 
and  color,  at  the  fountain  head,  must  have  been  directed  by  the 
hand  of  the  Creator,  in  an  arbitrary  manner;  by  which  not  only 
his  sovreignty,  as  the  Governor  of  the  earth,  with  all  its  tribes,  is 
manifest,  but  also  his  wisdom;  because  the  same  physical  consti- 
tutions which  are  suited  to  the  temperate  and  frigid  zones  of  the 
globe,  could  not  endure  the  burning  climates  of  the  torrid;  so  nei- 
ther are  the  constitutions  of  the  equatorial  nations  so  tempered  as 
equally  to  enjoy  the  snowy  and  ice-bound  regions  in  the  high  la- 
titudes north  and  south  of  the  equator. 

The  very  names,  or  words,  Shem,  Ham,  and  Japhcth,  were  in 
the  language  of  Noah,  (which  was  probably  the  pure  Hebrew, 
in  some  sense,  significant  of  their  future  national  character.  We 
proceed  to  show  in  what  sense  their  names  were  descriptive,  pro- 
spectively, of  their  several  destinies  in  the  earth,  as  well  also  as 
that  Ham  was  the  very  name  of  his  color,  or  complexion. 

The  word  Shem,  says  Dr.  Clarke,  signifies  renown,  in  the  lan- 
guage of  Noah;  which,  as  that  great  man,  now  no  more,  remarks, 
has  been  wonderfully  fulfiled,  both  in  a  temporal  and  spiritual 
sense.  In  a  temporal  sense,  first,  as  follows  :  His  posterity 
spread  themselves  over  the  finest  regions  of  Upper  and  Middle 
Asia,  Armenia,  Mesopotamia,  Assyria,  Media,  Persia,  and  the 
Indus,  Ganges,  and  possibly  to  China,  still  more  eastward. 

The  Avord  Japheth,  which  was  the  name  of  Noah's  third  son, 
has  also  its  moaning,  and  signifies,  according  to  the  same  author, 
that  which  may  be  exceedingly  enlarged,  and  capable  of  spread- 
ing to  a  vast  extent. 

His  posterity  diverged  eastward  and  westward  from  Ararat, 
throughout  the  whole  extent  of  Asia,  north  of  the  great  range  of 
the  Taurus  and  Ararat  mountains,  as  far  as  the  Eastern  ocean; 
whence,  as  he  supposses,  they  crossed  over  to  America,  at  the 
straits  of  Behring,  and  in  the  opposite  direction  from  those  moun- 
tains, throughout  Europe,  to  the  Mediterranean  sea,  south  from 
Ararat;  and  to  the  Atlantic  ocean  west  from  that  region;  whence 
also  they  might  have  passed  over  to  America,  by  the  way  of  Ice- 
land, Greenland,  and  so  on  to  the  continent,  along  the  coast  of 
Labrador,  where  traces  of  early  settlements  remain,  in  parts  now 
desert.     Thus  did  Japheth  enlarge  himself,  till  his  posterity  liter- 

2 


18  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ally  encompassed  the  earth,  from   latitude  35  degrees  north  and 
upward,  toward  the  pole. 

The  word  Ham  signified  that  which  was  burnt  or  black.  The 
posterity  of  this  son  of  Noah  peopled  the  hot  regions  of  the  earth, 
on  either  side  the  equator. 

But  as  it  respects  the  complexions  of  these  heads  of  the  nations 
of  the  earth,  we  remark  as  follows  :  Shem  was  undoubtedly  a 
red  or  copper  colored  man,  which  was  the  complexion  of  all  the 
antediluvians. 

This  conclusion  is  drawn  from  the  fact,  that  the  nations  inha- 
biting the  countries  named  as  being  settled  or  peopled  by  the  de- 
scendants of  She7n  have  always  been,  and  now  are,  of  that  cast. 
We  deem  this  fact  as  conclusive,  that  such  was  also  their  proge- 
nitor, Shem,  as  that  the  great  and  distinguishing  features  and 
complexion  of  nations  change  not  materially.  Shem  was  the 
father  of  the  Jewish  race,  who  are  of  the  same  hue,  varying  it 
is  true,  some  being  of  a  darker,  and  some  of  a  lighter  shade,  aris- 
ing from  secret  and  undefinable  principles,  placed  beyond  the  re- 
search of  man;  and  also,  from  amalgamation  by  marriage  with 
white,  and  with  the  darker  nations,  as  the  African.  But  to  cor- 
roborate our  opinion  that  the  antediluvians  were  of  a  red,  or  cop- 
per complexion,  we  bring  the  well-known  statement  of  Josephus, 
that  Adam,  theirs*  of  men,  was  a  red  man,  made  of  read  earth, 
called  virgin  earth,  because  of  its  beauty  and  pureness.  The 
word  Adam,  he  also  says,  signifies  that  color  which  is  red.  To 
this  account  the  tradition  of  the  Jews  corresponds,  who,  as  they 
are  the  people  most  concerned,  should  be  allowed  to  know  most 
about  it. 

Shem,  therefore,  must  have  been  a  red  man,  derived  from  the 
complexion  of  the  first  man,  Adam.  And  his  posterity,  as  above 
described,  are  accordingly  of  the  same  complexion;  this  is  well 
known  of  all  the  Jews,  unmixed  with  those  nations  that  are  fairer, 
as  attested  by  history,  and  the  traveller  of  every  age,  in  the 
countries  they  inhabit. 

The  word  Ham,  which  was  the  name  of  the  second  son  of  No- 
ah, is  the  word  which  was  descriptive  of  the  color  which  is  black, 
or  burnt  This  we  show  from  the  testimony  of  Dr.  Hales,  of 
England,  who  was  a  celebrated  natural  philosopher  andinathema- 
tician  of  the  17th  century,  who  is  quoted  by  Adam  Clarke,  to  show 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  19 

that  the  word  Ham,  in  the  language  of  Noah,  which  was  that  of 
the  antediluvians,  was  the  term  for  that  which  was  black. 

It  is  not  possible,  from  authority  so  high  and  respectable,  that 
doubts  can  exists  respecting  the  legitimacy  of  this  word,  and  of 
its  ancient  application.  Accordingly,  as  best  suited  to  the  com- 
plexion of  the  descendants  of  Ham,  the  hot  regions  of  the  equator 
were  allotted  to  those  nations. 

To  the  Cushites,  the  southern  climes  of  Asia,  along  the  coast 
of  the  Persian  gulf,  Susiane,  or  Cushistan,  Arabia,  Canaan,  Pa- 
lestine, Syria,  Egypt  and  Lybia  in  Africa.  These  countries 
were  settled  by  the  posterity  of  Ham,  who  were,  and  now  are,  of 
a  glossy  black. 

But  the  vast  variety  of  shades  and  hues  of  the  human  face, 
are  derived  from  amalgamations  of  the  three  original  complexions, 
red,  black,  and  white.  This  was  the  act  of  God,  giving  to  the 
three  persons,  upon  whom  the  earth's  population  depended,  by 
way  of  perpetuity,  such  complexions,  and  animal  constitutions, 
as  should  be  best  suited  to  the  several  climates,  which  he  intend- 
ed, in  the  progress  0f  his  providence,  they  should  inhabit 

The  people  of  these  countries,  inhabited  respectively  by  these 
heads  of  nations,  the  immediate  descendants  of  Shem,  Ham  and 
Japheth,  still  retain,  in  full  force,  the  ancient,  pristine  red,  white, 
and  black  complexions,  except  where  each  have  intruded  upon  the 
other,  and  become  scattered,  and  mingled,  in  some  degree,  over 
the  earth.  Accordingly,  among  the  African  nations,  in  their  own 
proper  countries,  now  and  then  a  colony  of  whites  have  fixed 
their  dwellings.  Among  the  red,  nations  are  found,  here  and  there, 
as  in  some  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  the  pure  African;  and 
both  the  black  and  the  red  are  found  among  the  white  nations; 
but  now,  much  more  than  in  the  earliest  ages,  a  general  amalga- 
mation of  the  three  original  colors  exists. 

When  we  speak  of  the  original,  or  pristine  complexions,  we  do 
aot  mean  before  the  flood,  except  in  the  family  of  Noah,  as  it  is 
our  opinion  that  neither  the  black  or  the  white  was  the  complexion 
of  Adam  and  all  the  nations  before  the  flood,  but  that  they  have 
been  produced  by  the  power  and  providence  of  the  Creator  in  the 
family  of  Noah  only. 

Much  has  been  written  to  establish  the  doctrine  of  the  influence 
of  climate  undfood,  in  producing  the  vast  extremes  betweeu  a  fair 

2* 


20  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

and  ruddy  white,  and  a  jet  blaek.  But  this  mode  of  reasoning,  to 
establish  the  origin  of  the  human  complexion,  we  imagine  very 
inconclusive  and  unsatisfactory;  as  it  is  found  that  no  distance  of 
space,  lapse  of  ages,  change  of  diet,  or  of  countries,  can  possibly 
"  remove  the  leopard's  spots,  or  change  the  Ethiopian's  skin." 
No  lapse  of  ages  has  been  known  to  change  a  white  man  and  his 
posterity  to  the  hue  or  shape  of  an  African,  although  the  hottest 
rays  of  the  burning  clime  of  Lybia,  may  have  scourched  him  ages 
unnumbered,  and  its  soil  have  fed  him  with  its  roots  and  berries, 
an  equal  length  of  time.  It  is  granted,  however,  that  a  white 
man  with  his  posterity,  will  tan  very  dark  by  the  heat  of  the  sun; 
but  it  can  never  alter,  as  it  never  has  altered,  the  shape  of  his 
face  from  that  which  was  characteristic  of  his  nation  or  people, 
nor  the  form  of  his  limbs,  nor  curie  his  hair,  turning  it  to  a  wool, 
provided,  always,  the  blood  be  kept  pure  and  unmixed. 

Power  in  the  decomposition  of  food,  by  the  human  stomach, 
does  not  exist  of  sufficient  force  to  overturn  the  deep  foundation 
of  causes  established  in  the  very  germ  of  being,  by  the  Creator. 
The  circumstance  of  what  a  man  may  eat,  or  where  he  may 
chance  to  breathe,  cannot  derange  the  economy  of  first  princi- 
ples. Were  it  so,  it  were  not  a  hard  matter  for  the  poor  African, 
if  he  did  but  know  this  choice  trait  of  philosophy,  to  take  hope 
and  shake  off  entirely  his  unfortunate  skin,  in  process  of  time, 
and  no  longer  be  exposed,  solely  on  that  account,  to  slavery, 
chains,  and  wretchedness. 

But  the  inveteracy  of  complexion  against  the  operation  of  cli- 
mate, is  evinced  by  the  following,  as  related  by  Morse.  On  the 
eastern  coast  of  Africa,  in  latitude  5  deg.  north,  are  found  jet 
black,  towny,  olive,  and  white  inhabitants,  all  speaking  the  same 
language,  which  is  the  Arabic.  This  particular  part  of  Africa 
is  called  the  Magadoxo  kingdom  :  the  inhabitants  are  a  stout,  war- 
like nation,  of  the  Mahometan  religion.  Here,  it  appears,  is  per- 
manent evidence  that  climate  or  food  have  no  effect  in  materially 
changing  the  hues  of  the  complexion,  each  retaining  their  own 
original  tincture;  even  the  white  is  found  as  stubborn  in  this  tor- 
rid sky,  as  the  black  in  the  northern  countries. 

The  whites  found  there  are  the  descendants  of  the  ancient  Ro- 
mans, Vandals  and  Goths,  who  were,  it  is  asserted  by  John  Leo, 
the  African,  who  wrote  a  description  of  Africa  in  Arabic,  all  an- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  21 

ciently  comprehend  under  the  general  name  of  Mauri,  or  Moors, 
as  well  as  the  black  Moors  themselves. — {Morse's  Universal  Ge- 
ography, vol.  ii.,  pp.  754,  781.^ 

Procopius,  a  Greek  historian  of  the  6th  century,  speaks  of  a 
race  of  fair  complexioned  people,  with  ruddy  countenances  and 
yellow  hair,  who  dwelt  far  within  the  desert  of  Lybia,  which  is 
Africa.  The  same  race  was  found  by  Dr.  Thomas  Shaw,  the 
antiquary,  who  was  born  in  the  17th  century,  who  speaks  of  them 
as  retaining  their  fair  complexion  and  yellow  hair,  although  a 
lapse  of  years,  no  less  than  twelve  hundred  had  transpired,  from 
the  time  of  Procopious  till  the  time  of  Dr.  Shaw.  The  latitude  of 
their  country  is  between  10  and  12  degrees  south. — Encyclopedia, 
vol.  vi.,  part  2,  p.  668,  American  edition.^) 

Shem,  according  to  the  commonly  received  opinion,  was  the 
eldest  son  of  Noah;  and  as  the  complexion  of  this  child  did  not 
differ  from  that  of  other  children  born  before  the  flood,  all  of 
whom  are  supposed  to  have  been  red,  or  of  the  copper  hue,  on  the 
ground  of  Adam's  complexion;  Noah  did  not,  therefore,  name 
the  child  at  first  sight,  from  any  extraordinary  impulse  arising 
from  any  singular  appearance  in  the  complexion,  but  rather,  as 
it  was  his  first  born  son,  he  called  him  Shem,  that  is,  renown, 
which  name  agrees,  in  a  surprising  manner,  with  what  we  have 
hereafter  to  relate,  respecting  this  character. 

The  impulse  in  the  mind  of  Noah,  which  moved  him  to  call  this 
first  son  of  his  Shem,  or  renoion,  may  have  been  similar  to  that 
of  the  patriarch  Jacob  respecting  his  first  born  son.  He  says, 
Reuben,  thou  art  my  first  born,  my  might,  and  the  beginning  of 
my  strength,  the  excellency  of  dignity,  and  the  excellency  of 
power.  The  ideas  are  similar,  both  leading  to  the  came  conse- 
quence; in  one  case  it  is  renoion,  in  the  other  the  excellency  of 
power,  which  is  equivalent  to  renown. 

It  is  not  unusual  for  parents  to  feel  this  sensation,  on  the  birth 
of  a.  first  child,  especially  if  it  be  a  son;  however,  it  is  not  impos- 
sible but  the  prophetic  spirit  moved  Noah  so  to  name  this  son  by 
the  extraordinary  appellation,  renown,  or  Shem;  and  the  chief 
trait  of  celebrity  which  was  to  attach  itself  to  the  character  of 
Shem,  was  to  arise  out  of  the  fact  of  his  being  the  type  of  the 
Messiah;  and  the  time  was  to  come  when  this  person,  after  the 
flood  should  have  passed  away,  would  be  the  only  antediluvian 


22  AiMERICAN    ANTIQUIEIES 

survivor;  on  which  account,  all  mankind  must,  of  necessity,  by 
natural  and  mutual  consent,  look  up  to  this  man  with  extraordina- 
ry veneration. 

By  examining  the  chronological  account  of  the  Jewish  records, 
we  find  the  man  Shem  lived  five  hundred  years  after  the  flood, 
and  that  he  over-lived  Abraham  about  forty  years.  So  that  he 
was  not  only  the  oldest  man  on  the  earth  at  that  time,  but  also  the 
only  surviving  antediluvian,  as  well  as  the  great  typical  progeni- 
tor of  the  adorable  Messiah. 

Here  was  a  foundation  for  renown,  of  sufficient  solidity  to  jus- 
tify the  prophetic  spirit  in  moving  Noah  to  call  him  Shem,  a  name 
full  of  import,  full  of  meaning,  pointing  its  signification,  in  a 
blaze  of  light,  to  him  whose  birth  and  works  of  righteousness 
were  to  be  of  consequences  the  highest  in  degree  to  the  whole 
race  of  Adam,  in  the  atonement. 

But  at  the  birth  of  Ham,  it  was  different.  When  this  child  was 
born,  we  may  suppose  the  house  or  tent  to  have  been  in  an  up- 
roar, on  the  account  of  his  strange  complexion;  the  news  of  which, 
we  may  suppose,  soon  reached  the  ear  of  the  father,  who,  on  be- 
holding it,  at  once,  in  the  form  of  an  exclamation,  cried  out  Ham  ! 
that  is,  it  is  Mack/  and  this  word  became  his  name. 

It  is  believed,  that  in  the  first  ages  of  the  world,  things  were 
named  from  their  supposed  qualities;  and  their  supposed  qualities 
arose  from  first  appearances.  In  this  way,  it  is  imagined,  Adam 
named  all  the  animals  at  first  sight;  as  the  Lord  God  caused  them 
to  pass  before  him,  a  sudden  impulse  arising  in  his  mind,  from  the 
appearance  of  each  creature;  so  that  a  suitable  name  was  given. 

This  was  natural;  but  not  more  so  than  it  was  for  Noah  to  call 
his  second  son  Ham,  because  he  was  black  ;  being  struck  by  this 
uncommon,  unheard  of  complexion,  which  impelled  him  at  once 
to  name  him  as  he  looked. 

We  suppose  the  same  influence  governed  at  the  birth  Japheth, 
and  that  at  the  birth  of  this  child,  greater  surprise  still  must  have 
pervaded  the  household  of  Noah,  as  white  was  a  cast  of  complex- 
ion still  more  wonderful  than  either  red  or  black,  as  these  two  last 
named  complexions  bear  a  stronger  affinity  to  each  other  than  to 
that  of  white. 

No  sooner,  therefore,  as  we  may  suppose,  was  the  news  of  the 
birth  of  this  third  son  carried  to  Noah,  than,  being  anxious  to  em- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  23 

brace  him,  saw  with  amazement,  that  it  was  diverse  from  the  other 
two,  and  from  all  mankind;  having  not  the  least  affinity  of  com- 
plexion with  any  of  the  human  race;  and  being  in  an  ecstacy,  at 
the  sight  of  so  fair  and  rudy  an  infant,  beautifully  white  and 
transparent  of  complexion,  cried  out,  while  under  the  influence 
of  his  joy  and  surprise,  Japheth  !  which  word  became  his  name; 
to  this,  however,  he  added  afterwards,  God  shall  greatly  enlarge 
Japheth,  and  he  shall  dwell  in  the  tents  of  Shem  and  Canaan; 
that  is,  Ham  shall  be  his  servant;  so  that,  in  a  political  sense,  he 
was  higher  than  the  other  two. 

But  if  our  opinion  on  this  subject  is  esteemed  not  well  support- 
ed, we  would  add  one  other  circumstance,  which  would  seem  to 
amount  to  demonstration,  in  proving  Ham  and  his  posterity  to 
have  been  black  at  the  outset. 

The  circumstance  is  as  follows  :  At  two  particular  times,  it  ap- 
pears from  Genesis,  that  Noah  declared,  Ham,  with] his  posterity, 
should  serve  or  become  servants  to  both  the  posterity  of  Shem 
and  Japheth.  If  one  were  to  inquire  whether  this  has  been  ful- 
filled or  not,  what  would  be  the  universal  answer  ?  It  would  be 
— it  has  been  fulfilled.  But  in  what  way  ?  Who  are  the  people  % 
The  universal  answer  is,  the  African  race  are  the  people.  But 
how  is  this  proved,  unless  we  allow  them  to  be  the  descendants  of 
Ham? 

If,  then,  they  are  his  descendants,  they  have  been  such  in  every 
age,  from  the  very  beginning;  and  the  same  criterion,  which  is 
their  color,  has  distinguished  them.  This  proves  their  progeni- 
tor, Ham,  to  have  been  black;  or  otherwise,  it  had  been  impossi- 
ble to  distinguish  them  from  the  posterity  of  the  other  two,  Shem 
and  Japheth;  and  whether  the  denunciation  of  Noah  has  been 
fulfilled  or  not,  would  be  unknown.  But  as  it  is  known,  the  sub- 
ject is  clear;  the  distinguishing  trait  by  which  Ham's  posterity 
were  known  at  first,  must  of  necessity  have  been,  as  it  is  now, 
black.  But  some  may  imagine,  that  as  we  do  not  know  the  com- 
plexions of  the  wives  of  the  three  sons  of  Noah;  that  our  hy- 
pothesis is  defective.  This,  however,  is  not  difficult  to  determine, 
as  they  must  have  been  red,  or  copper-colored,  like  the  rest  of 
the  antediluvians,  unless  we  suppose  them  born  with  complexions 
•like  their  husbands,  for  the  same  purposes,  and  occasioned  by  the 
same  power.     But  whether  this  was  so  or  not,  it  could  have  made 


24  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

no  material  difference;  as  it  is  from  the  male,  the  blood  of  all  the 
animal  creation  receives  its  specific  character. 

We  have  dwelt  thus  far  upon  the  subject  of  human  complex- 
ions, because  there  are  those  who  imagine  the  variety  now  found 
among  men,  to  have  originated  purely  from  climate,  food,  and 
manner  of  living;  while  others  suppose  a  plurality  of  fathers  to 
have  been  the  cause,  in  contradiction  of  the  account  in  Genesis, 
where  one  man  is  said  to  have  been  the  father  of  all  mankind. 
But  on  this  curious  subject,  respecting  the  variety  of  complexions 
see,  toward  the  close  of  this  volume,  the  remarks  of  Professor 
Mitchell,  late  of  New-York. 


Respecting  a  division  of  the  Earth,  by  J\'oah}  among  his 

Sons. 

It  cannot  be  denied  but  the  whole  earth,  at  the  time  the  ark 
rested  on  mount  Ararat,  belonged  to  Noah,  he  being  the  prince, 
patriarch,Jor  head  and  ruler  of  his  own  family  ;  consequently,  of 
all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  as  there  were  none  but  his  own 
house.  This  is  more  than  can  be  said  of  any  other  man  since 
the  world  began,  except  of  the  man  Adam.  Accordingly,  in  the 
true  character  of  a  Patriarchal  Prince,  as  related  by  Eusebius, 
an  ecclesiastical  writer  of  the  fourth  century,  and  by  others,  that 
Noah,  being  commanded  of  God,  proceeded  to  make  his  willy  di- 
viding the  whole  earth  between  his  three  sons,  and  their  respec- 
tive heirs  or  descendants. 

To  Shem  he  gave  all  the  East;  to  Ham,  all  Africa;  to  Japheth, 
the  continent  of  Europe,  with  its  isles,  and  the  northern  parts  of 
Asia,  as  before  pointed  out.  And  may  we  not  add  America, 
which,  in  the  course  of  Divine  Providence,  is  now  in  the  posses- 
sion of  the  posterity  of  Japheth,  and  it  is  not  impossible  but  this 
quarter  of  the  earth  may  have  been  known  even  to  Noah,  as  we 
are  led  to  suspect  from  the  statement  of  Eusebius. 

This  idea,  or  information,  is  brought  forward  by  Adam  Clarke, 
from  whose  commentary  on  the  Scriptures,  we  have  derived  it. 
That  a  knowledge  of  not  only  Africa,  Asia,  and  Europe,  was  in 
the  possession  of  Noah,  but  even  the  islands  of  Europe,  or  how 


AND  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  25 

could  he  have  given  them  to  the  posterity  of  his  son  Japhcth,  as 
written  by  Eusebius. 

It  may  be  questioned,  possibly,  whether  these  countries,  at  so 
early  a  period,  had  yet  been  explored,  so  as  to  furnish  Noah  with 
any  degree  of  knowledge  respecting  them.  To  this  it  may  be  re- 
plied, that  he  lived  three  hundred  and  fifty  years  after  the  flood, 
and  more  than  two  hundred  and  fifty  after  the  building  of  the 
tower  of  Babel  and  the  dispersion  of  the  first  inhabitants,  by 
means  of  the  confusion  of  the  ancient  language. 

This  was  a  lapse  of  time  quite  sufficient  to  have  enabled  ex- 
plorers to  have  traversed  them,  or  even  the  whole  earth,  if  com- 
panies had  been  sent  out  in  different  directions,  for  that  express 
purpose,  and  to  return  again  with  their  accounts  to  Noah.  If  the 
supposition  of  Adam  Clarke,  and  others,  be  correct  ;  which  is, 
that  at  that  time  the  whole  land  of  the  globe  was  so  situated  that 
no  continent  was  quite  separate  from  the  others  by  water,  as  they 
are  now;  so  that  men  could  traverse  by  land  the  whole  globe  at 
their  will  :  if  so,  even  America  may  have  been  known  to  the  first 
nations,  as  well  as  other  parts  of  the  earth. 

This  doctrine  of  the  union  of  continents,  is  favored,  or  rather 
founded  on  a  passage  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  10th  chap.  20th 
ver.,  where  it  is  stated  that  one  of  the  sons  of  Eber  was  Pe- 
leg,  so  named,  because,  in  his  days,  the  earth  was  divided  ;  the 
word  Peleg,  probably  signifying  division,  in  the  Noetic  lan- 
guage. 

The  birth  of  Peleg  was  about  an  hundred  years  after  the  flood, 
the  very  time  when  Babel  was  built.  But  we  do  not  imagine  this 
great  convulsionary  division  of  the  several  quarters  of  the  globe 
took  place  till  perhaps  an  hundred  years  after  the  birth  of  Peleg, 
on  account  of  the  peculiar  latitude  of  the  expression,  "  in  the 
days  of  Peleg."  Or,  it  may  have  been  even  two  hundred  years 
after  the  birth  of  Peleg,  as  this  person's  whole  life  was  but  two 
hundred  and  thirty-nine  years;  so  that  Noah  over-lived  him  eleven 
years. 

"In  the  days  of  Peleg,"  therefore,  may  as  well  be  argued  to 
mean,  near  the  close  of  his  life,  as  at  any  other  period  ;  this 
would  give  time  for  a  very  considerable  knowledge  of  the  earth's 
countries  to  have  been  obtained  ;  so  that  Noah  could  have  made  a 
judicious  division  of  it  among  the  posterity  of  his  sons. 


"26  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

This  grand  division  of  the  earth,  is  supposed  by  some  to  have 
been  only  a  political  division  ;  but  by  others,  a  physical  or  geo 
graphical  one.  This  latter  opinion  is  favored  by  Adam  Clarke. 
See  his  comment  on  the  25th  verse  of  the  10th  chapter  of  Gene- 
sis, as  follows  : — "  A  separation  of  continents  and  islands  from 
the  main  land,  the  earthy  parts  having  been  united  in  one  great 
continent,  previous  to  the  days  of  Peleg."  But  at  this  era,  when 
men  and  animals  had  found  their  way  to  the  several  quarters  of 
the  earth,  it  seemed  good  to  the  Creator  to  break  down  those  uni- 
ting portions  of  land,  by  bringing  into  action  the  winds,  the  bil- 
lows and  subterranean  fires,  which  soon,  by  their  repeated  and 
united  forces,  removed  each  isthmus,  throwing  them  along  the 
coasts  of  the  several  continents,  and  forming  them  into  islands  ; 
thus  destroying,  for  wise  purprses,  those  primeval  highways  of 
the  nations. 


Supposed   identity   and  real  name  of  Melchisedec,  of  the 
Scriptures. 

This  is  indeed  an  interesting  problem,  the  solution  of  which  has 
perplexed  its  thousands  ;  most  of  whom  suppose  him  to  have  been 
the  Son  of  God,  some  angelic  or  mysterious  supernatural  person- 
age, rather  than  a  mere  man.  This  general  opinion  proceeds  on 
the  gi-ound  of  the  Scripture  account  of  him,  as  commonly  under- 
stood, being  expressed  as  follows  : — "  Without  father,  without 
mother,  without  descent,  having  neither  beginning  of  days,  nor 
end  of  life,  but  made  like  unto  the  Son  of  God,  abideth  a  priest 
continually." — (Hebrews  vii.  3.) 

But,  without  further  circumlocution,  we  will  at  once  disclose  our 
opinion,  by  stating  that  we  believe  him  to  have  been  Shem,  the 
eldest  son  of  Noah,  the  progenitor  of  Abraham,  Isaac,  Jacob  and 
the  Jews,  and  none  other  than  Shem. 

We  derive  this  conclusion  from  the  research,  and  critical  com- 
mentary of  the  learned  and  pious  Adam  Clarke*  who  gives  us 
this  information  from  the  tradition  of  the  Jewish  Rabbins,  which, 
without  hesitation,  gives  this  honor  to  Shem. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  27 

The  particular  part  of  that  commentary  to  which  we  allude,  as 
being  the  origin  of  our  belief  on  this  subject,  is  the  preface  of  that 
author  to  the  book  of  Job,  on  page  716,  as  follows:  "  Shem  lived 
five  hundred  and  two  years  after  the  deluge;  being  still  alive,  and 
in  the  three  hnndred  and  ninety-third  year  of  his  life,  when  Abra- 
ham was  born;  therefore,  the  Jewish  tradition,  that  Shem  icas  the 
Melchisedec,  or  my  righteous  king  of  Salem,"  which  word  Mel- 
chisedec  was  "  an  epithet,  or  title  of  honor  and  respect,  not  a 
proper  name;  and,  therefore,  as  the  head  and  father  of  his  race, 
Abraham  paid  tithes  to  him.  This  seems  to  be  well  founded,  and 
the  idea  is  confirmed  by  this  remarkable  language:  (Psalms  ex.) 
Jehovah  hath  sworn,  and  will  not  repent  or  change,  at  tah  coken- 
leolam  al  dibarte  Malfcitsedek.  As  if  he  had  said:  Thou,  my  only 
begotten  son,  firstborn  of  many  brethren,  not  according  to  the 
substituted  priesthood  of  the  sons  of  Levi,  who,  after  the  sin  of  the 
golden  calf,  stood  up  in  lieu  of  all  the  first  born  of  Israel,  invested 
with  their  forfeited  rights  of  primogeniture  of  king  and  priest:  the 
Lord  hath  sworn  and  will  not  repent,  (change.)  Thou  art  a  priest 
forever,  after  the  (my  order  of  Melchisedec,  my  own  original 
primitive)  order  of  primogeniture:  even  as  Shei7i,  the  wan  of  name 
the  Shem  that  stands  the  first  and  foremost  of  the  sons  of  Noah. 
The  righteous  Prince,  and  Priest  of  the  Most  High  God,  meets  his 
descendant,  Abraham,  after  the  slaughter  of  the  kings,  with  re- 
freshments, and  blessed  him  as  the  head  and  father  of  his  race, 
the  Jews  in  particular;  and,  as  such,  he  received  from  Abraham, 
the  tithe  of  all  the  spoil. 

How  beautifully  does  Paul  of  Tarsus,  writing  to  the  Hebrews, 
point  to  Melchisedec,  (or  Shem,  the  head  and  father  of  their  race,) 
invested  in  all  the  original  rights  of  primogeniture,  Priest  of  the 
Most  High  God,  blessing  Abraham  as  such,  before  Levi  had  ex- 
istence, and  as  such,  receiving  tithes  from  Abraham,  and  in  him 
from  Levi,  yet  in  the  loins  of  his  forefathers:  Moses,  on  this  great 
and  solemn  occasion,  records  simply  this:  Melchisedec,  king  of 
Salem,  Priest  of  the  Most  High  God,  sine  genealogie;  his  pedigree 
not  mentioned,  but  standing  as  Adam,  in  St.  Luke's  genealogy, 
without  father  and  without  mother,  Adam  of  God.— ( Luke  iii.  38  J 
How  beautifully,  I  say,  doth  St.  Paul  point,  through  Melchisedec, 
to  Jehoshua,  our  great  High  Priest  and  King,  Jesus  Christ,  whose 
eternal  generation  who  shall  declare  !     Ha  Mashiach,  the  Lord's 


28  AMERICAN    ANTIQQITIES 

anointed  High  Priest  and  King,  after  the  order  of  Melchisedec; 
only  begotten,  first  born  son. 

Thus  far  for  the  preface  on  the  subject  of  Melchisedec,  show- 
ing that  he  was  none  other  than  Shem,  the  son  of  Noah.  We 
shall  now  give  the  same  author's  views  of  the  same  supposed  mys- 
terious character,  Melchisedec,  as  found  in  his  notes  on  the  7th 
Hebrews,  commencing  at  the  third  verse. 

Without  father,  without  mother,  without  descent,  having  neither 
beginning  of  days,  nor  end  of  life.  "  The  object  of  the  Apostle, 
in  thus  producing  the  example  of  Melchisedec,  was  to  show,  1st. 
That  Jesus  was  the  person  prophesied  ©f  in  the  110th  Psalm, 
which  Psalm  the  Jews  uniformly  understood  as  predicting  the 
Messiah.  2.  To  answer  the  objections  of  the  Jews  against  the 
legitimacy  of  the  priesthood  of  Christ,  arising  from  the  stock  from 
which  he  proceeded.  The  objection  is  this:  if  the  Messiah  is  a 
true  priest,  he  must  come  from  a  legitimate  stock,  as  all  the  priests 
under  the  law  have  regularly  done;  otherwise  we  cannot  acknow- 
ledge him  to  be  a  priest. 

"  But  Jesus  of  Nazareth  has  not  proceeded  from  such  a  stock; 
therefore  we  cannot  acknowledge  him  for  a  priest,  the  antetype 
of  Aaron.  To  this  objection  the  Apostle  answers,  that  it  was  not 
necessary  for  the  priest  to  come  from  a  particular  stock;  for  Mel- 
chisedec was  a  priest  of  the  Most  High  God,  and  yet  was  not  of 
the  stock  either  of  Abraham  (for  Melchisedec  was  before  Abra- 
ham,) or  Aaron,  but  was  a  Gentile. 

"It  is  well  known  that  the  ancient  Jews,  or  Hebrews,  were  ex- 
ceedingly scrupulous  in  choosing  their  high  priest;  partly  by  di- 
vine command,  and  partly  from  the  tradition  of  their  common 
ancestors,  who  always  considered  this  office  to  be  of  the  highest 
dignity.  1st.  God  commanded,  (Leviticus  xxi.  10,)  that  the  high 
priest-should  be  chosen  from  among  their  brethren;  that  is,  from 
the  family  of  Aaron.  2d.  That  he  should  marry  a  virgin.  3d. 
He  must  not  marry  a  widow.  4th.  Nor  a  divorced  person.  5th. 
Nor  a  harlot.  6th.  Nor  one  of  another  nation.  He  who  was 
found  to  have  acted  contrary  to  these  requisitions,  was,  jure  di- 
vino,  excluded  from-  the  pontificate,  or  eligibility  to  hold  that 
office. 

"  On  the  contrary,  it  was  necessary  that  he  who  desired  this 
honor   should  be  able  to  prove  his  descent  from  the  family  of 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  29 

Aaron;  and  if  he  could  not,  though  even  in  the  priesthood,  he  was 
cast  out,  as  we  find  from  Ezra  ii.  62,  and  Nehemiah  vii.  63.  To 
these  divine  ordinances  the  Jews  have  added,  1st.  That  no  prose- 
lyte could  be  a  priest.  2d.  Nor  a  slave.  3d.  Nor  a  bastard. 
4th.  Nor  the  son  of  a  Nithinnim;  these  were  a  class  of  men  who 
were  servants  to  the  priests  and  Levites,  (not  of  their  tribe,)  to 
draw  water,  and  to  hew  wood.  5th.  Nor  one  whose  father  exer- 
cised any  base  trade. 

"  And  that  they  might  be  tcell  assured  of  all  this,  they  took  the 
utmost  care  to  preserve  their  genealogies,  which  were  regularly 
kept  in  the  archives  of  the  temple.  When,  if  any  person  aspired 
to  the  sacerdotal  function,  his  genealogical  table  was  carefully  in- 
spected, and  if  any  of  the  above  blemishes  were  found  in  him,  he 
was  rejected." 

But  here  the  matter  comes  to  a  point  as  it  respects  our  inquiry 
respecting  Melchisedec's  having  no  father  or  mother. 

"ife  who  could  not  support  his  pretensions  by  just  genealogical 
evidences, was  said  to  be  without  father.  Thus  in  Bereshith  Rabba, 
sec.  xviii.  fol.  18,  are  these  words:  For  this  cause  shall  a  man 
leave  father  and  mother.  It  is  said,  if  a  proselyte  to  the  Jewish 
religion  have  married  his  own  sister,  whether  by  the  same  father 
or  by  the  same  mother,  they  cast  her  out,  according  to  Rabbi  Meir. 
But  the  wise  men  say,  if  she  be  of  the  same  mother,  they  cast  her 
out;  but  if  of  the  same  father,  they  retain  her,  shein  ab  la  gai, 
for  a  Gentile  has  no  father;  that  is,  his  father  is  not  reckoned  in 
the  Jewish  genealogies." 

In  this  way,  both  Christ  and  Melchisedec  were  without  father 
and  without  mother,  had  neither  beginning  of  days,  descent  of 
lineage,  nor  end  of  life  in  their  books  of.genealogies,  which  gave 
a  man  a  right  to  the  priesthood,  as  derived  from  Aaron;  that  is, 
were  not  descended  from  the  original  Jewish  sacerdotal  stock;  yet 
Melchisedec,  who  was  a  Gentile,  was  a  priest  of  the  Most  High 
God.  This  sense  Suidas*  confirms,  under  the  word  Melchisedec, 
where,  after  stating  he  reigned  a  prince  in  Salem,  (that  is,  Jeru- 
salem,) 113  years,  he  died  a  righteous  man.  To  this  he  adds: — 
"He  is,  therefore,  said  to  be  without  descent  or  genealogy,  because 

*  Suidas,  a  Greek  scholar  of  eminence,  who  flourished  A.  D.  975,  and  wu 
an  ecclesiaetical  writer  of  that  age. 


30  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

he  was  not  of  the  seed  of  Abraham,  (for  Abraham  was  his  seed) 
but  of  Canaanitish  origin." 

We  think  this  sufficient  to  show  the  reason  why;  he  is  said  to 
have  had  no  father  or  mother,  beginning  of  days,  nor  end  of  life, 
as  stated  in  Hebrews.  But  this  is  not  said  of  him  in  the  book  of 
Genesis,  where  we  first  become  acquainted  with  this  truly  won- 
derful character. 

It  should  be  recollected  that  the  Jewish  genealogies  went  no 
farther  back,  for  the  qualifications  of  their  priestly  credentials,  or 
eligibility  to  the  pontifical  office,  than  to  the  time  and  family  of 
Aaron,  which  was  more  than  four  hundred  years  after  that  of 
Abraham  and  Melchisedec  No  wonder,  then,  that  Christ's  gen- 
ealogy was  not  found  in  their  records,  so  as  to  give  him  a  claim 
to  that  office,  such  as  they  might  approve. 

But  inasmuch  as  Melchisedec  was  greater  than  Abraham,  from 
whom  the  Jewish  race  immediately  originated,  he  argues  from  the 
authority  of  the  110th  Psalm,  where  Melchisedec  is  spoken  of, 
which  the  Jews  allowed  to  be  spoken  of  Christ,  or  the  Messiah, 
who  was  to  come,  and  was,  therefore,  a  priest  after  the  order  of 
that  extraordinary  Prince  of  Peace,  and  King  of  Salem;  because, 
neither  had  he  such  a  claim  on  the  Jewish  genealogies,  as  required 
by  the  Jews,  so  as  to  make  him  eligible  to  their  priesthood,  for 
they  knew,  or  might  have  known,  that  Christ  did  not  come  of  the 
Aaronic  race,  but  of  the  line  or  tribe  of  Judah. 

That  he  was  a  man,  a  mere  man,  born  of  a  woman,  and  came 
into  the  world  after  the  ordinary  manner,  is  attested  by  St.  Paul's 
own  extraordinary  expression.  (See  Hebrews,  vii.  4.J  "  Now 
consider  how  great  this  man  was,  unto  whom  Abraham  gave  the 
tenth  of  the  spoils."  However  wonderfully  elevated  among  men, 
and  in  the  sight  of  God;  iiowever  powerful  and  rich,  wise,  holy, 
and  happy;  he  was,  nevertheless,  a  mere  man,  or  the  tenth  of  the 
spoils  he  would  not  have  received. 

But  the  question  is,  what  man  was  he,  and  what  was  his  name  ? 
"  Now  consider  how  great  this  man  was,"  are  words  which  may 
possibly  lead  us  to  the  same  conclusion,  which  we  have  quoted 
from  the  preface  of  the  book  of  Job. 

There  are  not  wanting  circumstances  to  elevate  this  man,  on 
the  supposition  that  he  was  Shem,  in  the  scale  of  society,  far 
above  a  common  level  with  the  rest  of  the  inhabitants  of  his  coun- 


AND    DISCOVERIS    IN    THE    WEST.  31 

try,  of  sufficient  importance  to  justify  St.  Paul  in  saying,  "  now 
consider  how  great  this  man  was." 

We  shall  recount  some  of  the  circumstances;  and  first,  at  the 
time  he  met  Abraham,  when  he  was  returning  from  the  slaughter 
of  the  kings  who  had  carried  away  Lot,  the  half  brother  of  Abra- 
ham, with  all  his  goods,  his  wife  and  children,  and  blessed  him; 
he  was  the  oldest  man  then  on  the  earth.  This  circumstance  alone 
was  of  no  small  amount,  and  highly  calculated  to  elevate  Shem 
in  the  eyes  of  mankind;  for  he  was  then  more  than  five  hundred 
and  fifty  years  old. 

Second  :  He  was  then  the  only  man  on  the  earth  who  had  lived 
before  the  flood;  and  had  been  conversant  with  the  nations,  the 
institutions,  the  state  of  agriculture,  arts  and  sciences,  as  under- 
stood and  practised  by  the  antediluvians. 

Third  :  He  was  the  only  man  who  could  tell  them  about  the  lo- 
cation of  the  garden  of  Eden;  a  question,  no  doubt,  of  great  cu- 
riosity and  moment  to  those  early  nations,  so  near  the  flood;  the 
manner  in  which  the  fall  of  Adam  and  Eve  took  place.  He  could 
tell  them  what  sort  of  fruit  it  was,  and  how  the  tree  looked  on 
which  it  grew;  and  from  Shem,  it  is  more  than  probable,  the 
Jews  received  the  idea  that  the  forbidden  fruit  was  that  of  the 
grape  vine,  as  found  in  their  traditions. 

Shem  could  tell  them  what  sort  of  serpent  it  was,  whether  an 
orang-outang,  as  believed  by  some,  that  the  evil  spirit  made  use 
of  to  deceive  the  woman;  he  could  tell  them  about  the  former 
beauty  of  the  earth,  before  it  had  become  ruined  by  the  commo- 
tion of  the  waters  of  the  flood;  the  form  and  situation  of  coun- 
tries, and  of  the  extent  and  amount  of  human  population.  He 
could  tell  them  how  the  nations  who  filled  the  earth  with  their  vi- 
olence and  rapine,  used  to  go  about  the  situation  of  the  happy 
garden  to  which  no  man  was  allowed  to  approach  nor  enter,  on 
account  of  the  dreadful  Cherubim  and  the  flaming  sword;  and 
how  they  blasphemed  against  the  judgments  of  the  Most  High  on 
that  account 

Fourth  :  Shem  could  inform  them  about  the  progress  of  the 
ark,  where  it  was  built,  and  what  opposition  and  ridicule  his  fa- 
ther Noah  met  with  while  it  was  building;  he  could  speak  respecting 
the  violent  manners  of  the  antediluvians,  and  what  their  peculiar 
aggravated  sins  chiefly  consisted  in — what  God  meant   when  he 


32  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

said,  that  "  all  flesh  had  corrupted  its  way  before  Him,"  except 
the  single  family  of  JNoah.  There  are  those  who  imagine,  from 
that  peculiar  phraseology,  "  all  flesh  hath  corrupted  its  way  on 
the  earth,"  that  the  human  form  had  become  mingled  with  that  of 
animals.  If  so,  it  was  high  time  they  were  drowned,  both  man 
and  beast,  for  reasons  too  obvious  to  need  illustration  here;  it  was 
high  time  that  the  soil  was  purged  by  water,  and  torn  to  frag- 
ments and  buried  beneath  the  earthy  matter  thrown  up  from  depths 
not  so  polluted. 

It  is  not  at  all  improbable  but  from  this  strange  and  most  hor- 
rible practice,  the  first  ideas  of  the  ancient  statuaries  were  derived 
of  delineating  sculpture  which  represents  monsters,  half  human 
and  half  animal.  This  kind  of  sculpture,  and  also  paintings, 
abounded  among  the  Egyptians,  the  Greeks,  and  the  Romans,  as 
well  as  other  nations]of  the  early  ages.  Of  these  shapes  were  many 
of  their  gods;  being  half  lion,  half  eagle,  and  half  fish;  accord- 
ing to  the  denomination  of  paganism  who  adored  these  images. 

Fifth  :  Shem  was  the  only  man  in  the  days  of  Abraham,  who 
could  tell  them  of  the  promised  Messiah,  of  whom  he  was  the 
most  glorious  and  expressive  type  afforded  to  men,  before  his 
coming,  as  attested  by  St.  Paul.  It  is  extremely  probable,  that 
with  this  man,  Abraham  had  enjoyed  long  and  close  acquaintance, 
for  he  was  descended  of  his  loins,  from  whom  he  had  the  knowl- 
edge of  the  true  God,  in  all  probility,  in  the  midst  of  his  Chal- 
dean, idolatrous  nation,  and  learned  the  faith  of  Melchisedec. 
From  the  familiar  manner  with  which  Melchisedec,  or  Shem, 
who,  we  are  compelled  to  believe,  was  indeed  Melchisedec,  met 
Abraham,  and  blessed  him,  in  reference  to  the  great  Messiah,  we 
are  strongly  inclined  to  believe  them  old  acquaintance. 

Sixth  :  It  appears  that  Shem,  or  Melchisedec,  had  gotten  great 
passessions  and  influence  among  men,  as  he  had  become  king  of 
Salem,  or  ancient  Jehus,  where  Jerusalem  was  afterward  built, 
and  were  mount  Zion  reared  her  towers,  and  was  the  only  tem- 
ple, in  which  the  true  God  was  understanding^  worshipped,  then 
on  the  earth.  It  is  not  impossible  but  the  mountainous  region 
about  Mount  Horeb,  and  the  mountains  round  about  Jerusalem, 
were,  before  the  flood,  the  base  or  foundation  of  the  country,  and 
exact  location  of  the  region  of  the  garden  called  Eden,  the  place 
where  Adam  was  created.     But  when  the   waters  of  the  deluge 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  33 

came,  they  tore  away  all  the  earthy  matter,  and  left  standing 
those  tremendous  pinnacles  and  overhanging  mountains  of  the  re- 
gion of  Jerusalem  and  Mount  Horeb. 

By  examining  the  map  on  an  artificial  globe,  it  will  be  seen, 
the  region  of  country  situated  between  the  eastern  end  of  the  Me- 
diterranean sea,  the  Black  and  Caspian  seas,  and  the  Persian 
gulf,  the  country  now  called  Turkey,  there  are  many  rivers  run- 
ning into  these  several  waters,  all  heading  toward  each  other; 
among  which  is  the  Euphrates,  one  of  the  rivers  mentioned  by 
Moses,  as  deriving  its  origin  tin  the  garden,  or  country  of  Eden. 
Mountainous  countries  are  the  natural  sources  of  rivers.  From 
which  we  argue  that  Eden  must  have  been  a  high  region  of  coun- 
try, as  intimated  in  Genesis,  entirely  inaccessible  on  all  sides,  but 
the  east ;  at  which  point  the  sword  of  the  Cherubim  was  placed 
to  guard  the  way  of  rhe  tree  of  life.  Some  have  imagined  the 
Persian  gulf  to  be  the  spot  where  the  garden  was  situated.  But 
this  is  impossible,  as  that  the  river  Euphrates  runs  into  that  gulf, 
from  toward  Jerusalem,  or  from  north  of  Jerusalem.  And  as 
the  regoin  of  Eden  was  the  source  of  four  large  rivers,  running 
in  different  directions,  so  also,  now  the  region  round  about  the 
present  head  waters  of  the  Euphrates,  is  the  source  of  many  riv- 
ers, as  said  above;  on  which  account,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt, 
but  here  the  Paradise  of  Adam  was  situated,  before  the  deluge. 
If  the  Euphrates  is  one  of  the  rivers  having  its  source  in  the 
garden  or  country  of  Eden,  as  Moses  has  recorded,  it  is  then 
proved,  to  a  demonstration,  that  the  region  as  above  described,  is 
the  ancient  and  primeval  site  of  the  literal  Paradise  of  Adam. 

The  latitude  of  this  region  is  between  20  and  30  degrees  north, 
and  running  through  near  the  middle  of  this  country,  from  east 
to  west,  is  the  range  of  mountains  known  by  that  of  Mount  Tau 
rus  and  Mount  Ararat.  So  that  we  perceive  this  part  of  the 
globe  is  not  only  the  ancient  Eden,  from  where  the  human  race 
sprang  forth  at  first,  but  that  also,  it  was  renewed  probably  near 
the  same  spot,  in  the  family  of  Noah,  after  the  flood. 

Thus  far  we  have  treated  on  the  subject  of  Melchisedec,  show- 
ing reasons  why  he  is  supposed  to  have  been  Shem,  the  son  of 
Noah,  and  reasons  why  St.  Paul  should  say,  "  Now  consider  how 
great  this  man  was."  We  will  only  add,  that  the  word  Melchise- 
dec is  not  the  name  of  that  man  so  called,  but  is  only  a  term,  or 

3 


34  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

appellation,  used  in  relation  to  him,  by  God  himself,  which  is  the 
same  as  to  say,  my  righteous  king.  So  that  Melchisedec  was  not 
the  name  he  received  at  his  birth,  but  was  Shem,  as  the  Jews  in- 
form us  in  their  traditions. 


Division  of  the  Earth  in  the  days  of  Peleg,  and  of  the  spread- 
ing out  of  the  nations,  with  other  curious  matter. 

But  to  return  to  the  subject  respecting  the  division  of  the 
earth  in  the  days  of  Peleg.  If,  then,  the  division  of  the  earth 
was  a  physical  one,  consequently  such  as  had  settled  on  its 
several  parts  before  this  division  became  forever  separated, 
towards  the  four  quarters  of  the  globe.  If  this  position  be  true, 
the  mystery  is  at  once  unriddled,  how  men  and  animals  are  found 
on  all  the  earth,  not  excepting  the  islands,  however  far  removed 
from  other  lands  by  intervening  seas. 

But  of  this  matter  we  shall  speak  again  towards  the  close  of 
this  work,  when  we  hope  to  throw  some  degree  of  light  upon  this 
obscure,  yet  exceedingly  interesting  subject. 

We  here  take  the  opportunity  to  inform  the  reader,  that  as  soon 
as  we  have  given  an  account  of  the  dispersion  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  earth,  immediately  after  the  flood,  from  whom  sprang  the 
several  nations  mentioned  in  sacred  and  profane  ancient  history, 
we  shall  then  come  to  our  main  subject,  namely,  that  of  the  anti- 
quities of  America. 

In  order  to  give  an  account  of  those  nations,  we  follow  the  Com- 
mentary of  Adam  Clarke,  on  the  10th  chapter  of  the  Book  of 
Genesis;  which  is  the  only  book  to  which  we  can  resort  for  in- 
formation of  the  kind;  all  other  works  which  touch  this  point,  are 
only  illustrative  and  corroboratory.  Even  the  boasted  antiquity 
of  the  Chinese,  going  back  millions  of  years,  as  often  quoted  by 
the  sceptic,  is  found,  when  rightly  understood,  to  come  quite  with- 
in the  account  given  by  Moses  of  the  creation. 

This  is  asserted  by  Baron  Humboldt,  a  historian  of  thefrst 
order,  whose  mind  was  embellished  with  a  universal  knowledge 
of  the  manners,  customs,  and  traits  of  science,  of  the  nations  of 
the  earth,  rarely  acquired  by  any  man. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  35 

Tke  Chinese  account  of  their  first  knowledge  of  the  oldest  of 
their  gods,  shows  their  antiquity  of  origin  to  be  no  higher  than  the 
creation,  as  related  in  Genesis.  Their  Shastrus,  a  book  which 
gives  an  account  of  the  incarnation  of  the  god  Vishnoo,  states, 
that  his  first  incarnation  was  for  the  purpose  of  bringing  up  the 
Vedas,  (sacred  books)  from  the  deep.  This  appearance  of  Vish- 
noo, they  say,  was  in  the  form  of  a  fish.  The  books,  the  fish, 
and  the  deep,  are  all  derived  from  Noah,  whose  account  of  the 
creation  has  furnished  the  ground  of  this  Chinese  tradition.  In 
his  second  incarnation,  he  took  the  newly  created  world  on  his 
back,  as  he  assumed  the  form  of  a  tortoise,  to  make  it  sta- 
ble. This  alludes  to  the  Mosaic  account,  which  says,  God  sepa- 
rated the  water  from  the  dry  land,  and  assigned  them  each  their 
place.  In  his  third  incarnation  he  took  the  form  of  a  wild  boar, 
and  drew  the  earth  out  of  the  sea,  into  which  it  had  sunk  during 
a  periodical  destruction  of  the  world.  This  is  a  tradition  of  the 
deluge,  and  of  the  subsiding  of  the  waters,  when  the  tops  of  the 
mountains  first  appeared.  A  fourth  incarnation  of  this  god  was 
for  the  rescue  of  a  son,  whose  father  was  about  to  slay  him. 
What  else  is  this  but  the  account  of  Abraham's  going  to  slay  his 
son  Isaac,  but  was  rescued  by  the  appearance  of  an  angel,  for- 
bidding the  transaction.  In  a  fifth  incarnation  he  destroyed  a 
giant,  who  despised  the  gods,  and  committed  violence  in  the  earth. 
This  giant  was  none  other  than  Nimrod,  the  author  of  idolatry, 
the  founder  of  Babel,  who  is  called,  even  by  the  Jews,  in  their 
traditions,  a  giant. 

The  inhabitants  of  the  Tonga  islands,  in  the  South  Pacific 
ocean,  have  a  similar  opinion  respecting  the  first  appearance  of 
land,  which  evidently  points  to  the  flood  of  Noah 

They  say,  that  at  a  certain  time,  the  god  Tangaloa,  who  was 
reputed  to  preside  over  arts  and  inventions,  went  forth  to  fish  in 
the  great  ocean,  and  having  from  the  sky  let  down  his  hook  and 
line  into  the  sea,  on  a  sudden  he  felt  that  something  had  fastened 
to  his  hook,  and  believing  he  had  caught  an  immense  fish,  he  ex- 
erted all  his  strength,  and  presently  then;  appeared  above  the  sur- 
face several  points  of  rocks  and  mountains,  whicji  increased  in 
number  and  extent,  the  more  he  strained  at  his  line  to  pull  it  up. 

It  was  now  evident  that  his  hook  had  fastened  to  the  very  bot- 
tom of  the  ocean,  and  that  he  was  fast  emerging  a  vast  continent; 

3* 


36  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES. 

when,  unfortunately,  the  line  broke,  having  brought  up  only  the 
Tonga  islands,  which  remain  to  this  day. 

The  story  of  this  fishing  god  Tangaloa,  we  imagine  is  a  very 
clear  allusion  to  the  summits  of  Ararat,  which  first  appeared 
above  the  waters  of  the  flood  in  Asia. 

"  Now  these  are  the  generations  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  Shem, 
Ham  and  Japheth;  and  unto  them  were  sons  born  after  the  flood." 
(Genesis  x.  1,  and  onward.) 

The  sons  of  Japheth  :  "  Japheth  is  supposed  to  be  the  same 
with  Japetus  of  the  Greeks,  from  whom,  in  an  extreme  remote 
antiquity,  that  people  were  supposed  to  have  derived  their  origin. 
On  this  point  most  chronologists  are  pretty  well  agreed.  Gomer 
is  supposed  to  have  peopled  Galatia;  this  was  a  son  of  Japheth. 
So  Josephus,  who  says  that  the  Galatians,  (or  French  people,  de- 
rived from  the  ancient  Belgaic  tribes,)  were  anciently  named  Go- 
merites.  From  him  the  Cimmerians,  or  Cimbrians,  are  supposed 
to  have  derived  their  origin.  Bochart,  a  learned  French  protes- 
tant,  born  at  Rouen,  in  Normandy,  in  the  16th  century,  has  no 
doubt  that  the  Phrygians  sprung  from  this  person;  and  some  of 
our  principal  commentators  are  of  this  opinion. 

Madai,  one  of  the  sons  of  Japheth,  is  supposed  to  be  the  pro- 
genitor of  the  ancient  Medas.  Javan  was  another  of  his  sons, 
from  whom,  it  is  almost  universally  believed,  sprung  the  Ionians 
of  Asia  Minor.  Tubal  is  supposed  to  be  the  father  of  the  Iberi- 
ans, and  that  a  part,  at  least  of  Spain  was  peopled  by  him  and 
his  descendant;  and  that  Meschech,  who  is  generally  in  Scripture 
joined  with  him,  was  the  founder  of  the  Cappadocians,  from  whom 
proceeded  the  Muscovites  or  Russians. 

Tiras.  From  this  person,  according  to  general  consent,  the 
Thracians  derived  their  origin. 

Ashkenaz.  From  this  person  was  derived  the  name  Sacagena, 
a  province  of  Armenia.  Pliny,  one  of  the  most  learned  of  the 
ancient  Romans,  who  lived  immediately  after  the  commencement 
of  ths  Christian  era,  mentions  a  people  called  Ascanticos,  who 
dwelt  about  Tannis,  or  Palus  Mscoticus;  and  some  suppose,  that 
from  Ashkenaz  the  Euxine  or  Black  sea  derived  its  name;  but 
others  suppose,  that  from  him  the  Germans  derived  their  origin. 

Riphath  The  founder  of  the  Paphlagnoians,  which  were  an- 
ciently called  Riphatoel. 


AND  DISCOVERIES  IN    THE    WEST.  37 

Togarma.     The  inhabitants  of  Sauromates,  or  of  Turcomania. 

Elishah.  As  Javan  peopled  a  considerable  part  of  Greece,  it 
is  in  that  region  we  must  look  for  the  settlements  of  his  descend- 
ants. Elishah  probably  was  the  first  who  settled  at  Elis,  in  Pe- 
loponesus. 

Tarshis.  He  first  inhabited  Cihcia,  whose  capital,  anciently, 
was  the  city  of  Tarsus,  where  St.  Paul  was  born. 

Kittim.  Some  think  by  this  name  is  meant  Cyprus;  others, 
the  isle  of  Chios;  others,  the  Romans;  and  others,  the  Macedo- 
nians. 

Dodanim,  or  Rhodanim.  Some  suppose,  that  this  family  set- 
tled at  Dodana;  others,  at  the  Rhone  in  France;  the  ancient  name 
of  which  was  Rhodanus,  from  the  Scripture  Rhodanim  : — "  By 
these,  were  the  isles  of  the  Gentiles  divided  in  their  lands." 
Europe,  of  which  this  is  allowed  to  be  a  general  epithet,  and 
comprehends  all  those  countries  to  which  the  Hebrews  were 
obliged  to  go  by  sea;  such  as  Spain,  Gaul  or  France,  Italy, 
Greece,  and  Asia  Minor. 

Thus  far  we  have  noticed  the  spreading  out  over  many  coun- 
tries, and  the  origin  of  many  nations,  arising  out  or  from  Japheth, 
one  of  the  sons  of  Noah;  all  of  whom  were  white,  or  at  least 
come  under  that  class  of  complexions 

The  descendants  of  Ham,  another  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  and 
some  of  the  nations  springing  from  him,  we  shall  next  bring  to 
view. 

Cksh,  who  peopled  the  Arabic  ?w7iie,  or  province,  near  the  Red 
sea,  in  Lower  Egypt.   Some  think  the  Ethiopians  sprung  from  him 

Mizraim.  This  family  certainly  peopled  Egypt;  and  both  in 
the  east  and  west  Egypt  is  called  Mizraim. 

Phut.  Who  first  peopled  an  Egyptian  nome,  or  district,  bor- 
dering on  Lybia. 

Canaan.  He  who  first  peopled  the  land  so  called;  known  also 
by  the  name  of  the  Promised  Land.  These  were  the  nations 
which  the  Jews,  who  descended  from  Shem,  cast  out  from  the 
land  of  Canaan,  as  directed  by  God,  because  of  the  enormity  and 
brutal  nature  of  their  crimes;  which  were  such  as  no  man  of  the 
present  age,  blessed  with  Christian  a  education, would  excuse  on  a 
jury,  under  the  terrors  of  an  oath,  from  the  punishment  of  death. 
They  practised,    as  did  the  antediluvians  and   Sodomites,   those 


38  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

things  which  were  calculated  to  mingle  the  human  with  the  brute. 
Surely,  when  thii  is  understood,  no  man,  not  even  a  disbeliever  in 
the  inspiration  of  the  Bible,  will  blame  Moses  for  his  seeming 
severity,  in  cutting  off  those  nations  with  the  besom  of  entire  ex- 
termination. 

"Seba.  The  founder  of  the  Sabeans.  There  seems  to  be 
three  different  people  of  this  name,  mentioned  in  the  tenth 
chapter  of  Genesis,  and  a  fourth  in  the  twenty-fifth  chapter  of 
the  same  book."  The  queen  of  Sheba  was  of  this  race,  who 
came,  as  it  is  said,  from  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth,  to  Jeru- 
salem, to  know  the  wisdom  of  Solomon  and  the  Hebrew  religion; 
she  was  therefore,  being  a  descendant  of  Ham's  posterity,  a  black 
woman. 

Havillah,  Sabtah,  Ramah,  Sabtechah,  Sheba,  Dedan.  These 
are  names  belonging  to  the  race  of  Ham,  but  the  nations  to  whom 
they  gave  rise,  is  not  interesting  to  our  subject. 

Nimrod,  however,  should  not  be  omitted,  who  was  of  the  race 
of  Ham,  and  was  his  grandson.  Of  whom  it  is  said,  he  was  a 
mighty  hunter  before  the  Lord:  meaning  not  only  his  skill  and 
courage,  and  amazing  strength  and  ferocity,  in  the  destruction  of 
wild  animals,  which  infested  the  vast  wilds  of  the  earth  at  that 
time,  but  a  destroyer  of  men's  lives,  and  the  originatorof  idolatry. 
It  was  this  Nimrod  who  opposed  the  righteous  Melchisedec; 
and  taught,  or  rather  compelled,  men  to  forsake  the  religion  of 
Shem,  or  Melchisedec,  and  to  follow  the  institutes  of  Nimrod. 

"The  beginning  of  his  kingdom  was  Babel,  Ereck,  Acad,  and 
Cahieh,  in  the  land  of  Shinar. — (Genesis  x.   10.) 

The  tower  of  Babel  and  the  city  of  Babylon  were  both  built  on 
the  Euphrates.  Babel,  however,  was  first  built  by  Nimrod's 
agency,  whose  influence,  it  appears,  arose  much  from  the  fierce- 
ness of  his  disposition,  and  from  his  stature  and  great  muscular 
powers;  qualifications  which,  in  every  age,  have  been  revered. 
The  Septuagint  version  of  the  Scriptures  speaks  of  Nimrod  as 
being  a  surly  giant.  This  was  a  colored  man,  and  the  first  mo- 
narch of  the  human  race  since  the  flood. 

But  whether  monarchical  or  republican  forms  of  government 
obtained  before  the  flood  is  uncertain  .-—Probability  would  seem 
to  favor  neither;  but  rather  that  the  patriarchal  government  suc- 
ceeded, as  every  father,  to  the  fourth  and  fifth  generation,  must 
have  been,  in  those  days,  the  natural  king  or  chief  of  his  clan. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    WEST.  39 

These,  after  a  while,  spreading  abroad,  would  clash  with  each 
other's  interest,  whence  petty  wars  would  arise,  till  many  tribes 
being,  by  the  fortune  of  war,  weakened,  that  which  had  been  most 
fortunate,  would  at  once  seize  upon  a  wider  empire  : — Hence 
monarchies  arose.  But  whether  it  so  fell  out  before  the  flood, 
cannot  now  be  ascertained.  A  state,  however,  of  fearful  anar- 
chy seems  to  be  alluded  to  in  the  Scriptures;  where  it  is  said, 
that  the  earth  was  "filled  with  violence."  This,  however,  was 
near  the  time  of  the  flood. 

Popular  forms  of  government,  or  those  called  republican  or  de- 
mocratical,  had  their  origin  when  a  number  of  distant  tribes  or 
clans*  invaved  a  district  or  country  so  situated  as  that  the  interests 
of  different  tribes  were  naturally  somewhat  blended;  these,  in  or- 
der to  repel  a  distant  or  strange  enemy's  encroachments,  would 
naturally  unite  under  their  respective  chiefs  or  patriarchs.  Ex- 
perience would  soon  show  the  advantage  of  union.  Hence  arose 
republics. 

The  grand  confederacy  of  the  five  nations,  which  took  place 
among  the  American  Indians,  before  their  acquaintance  with 
white  men,  shows  that  such  even  among  the  most  savage  of  our 
race,  may  have  often  thus  united  their  strength — out  of  which 
civilization  has  sometimes,  as  well  as  monarchies  and  republics, 
arisen. 

Since  the  flood,  however,  it  is  found  that  the  descendants  of 
Japheth  originated  the  popular  forms  of  government  in  the  earth; 
as  among  the  Greeks,  the  Romans,  and  more  perfectly  among 
the  Americans,  who  are  the  descendants  of  Japheth. 

We  shall  omit  an  account  of  the  nations  arising  out  of  the  de- 
scendants of  Shem,  (for  we  need  not  mention  the  Jews,  of  whom 
all  men  know  they  descended  from  him;)  for  the  same  reasons 
assigned  for  the  omission  of  a  part  of  the  posterity  of  Ham,  be- 
cause they  chiefly  settled  in  those  regions  of  Asia,  too  remote  to 
answer  our  subject  any  valuable  purpose. 

"  In  confirmation,  however,  that  all  men  have  been  derived 
from  one  fjamily,  let  it  be  observed,  that  there  are  many  usages, 
both  sacred  and  civil,  which  have  prevailed  in  all  parts  of  the 
world,  which  could  owe  their  origin  to  nothing  but  a  general 
institution,  which  could  not  have  existed,  had  not  mankind  been 
of  the  same  blood  originally,  and  instructed  in  the  same  common 


40  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIEB. 

notions  before  they  were  dispersed"  from  the  mountains  of  Ara- 
rat, and  the  family  of  Noah.  Traits  of  this  description,  which 
argue  to  this  conclusion,  will  in  the  course  of  this  work,  be  made 
to  appear;  which  to  such  as  believe  the  Bible,  will  afford  peculiar 
pleasure  and  surprise. 


Antiquities  of  the   West. 

There  are  no  parts  of  the  kingdoms  or  countries  of  the  old 
world,  but  have  celebrated  in  poetry  and  sober  history,  the  mighty 
relics  and  antiquities  of  ancient  empires,  as  Rome,  Babylon, 
Greece.  Egypt,  Hindostan,  Tartary,  Africa,  China,  Persia,  Eu- 
rope, Russia,  and  many  of  the  island  of  the  sea.  It  yet  remains 
for  America  to  awake  her  story  from  its  oblivious  sleep,  and  tell 
the  tale  of  her  antiquities — the  traits  of  nations,  coeval,  perhaps, 
with  the  eldest  works  of  man  this  side  the  flood. 

This  curious  subject,  although  it  is  obscured  beneath  the  gloom 
of  past  ages,  of  which  but  small  record  remains;  beside  that 
which  is  written  in  the  dust,  in  the  form  of  mighty  mounds,  tu- 
muli, strange  skeletons,  and  aboriginal  fortifications;  and  in  some 
few  instances,  the  bodies  of  preserved  persons,  as  sometimes 
found  in  the  nitrous  caves  of  Kentucky,  and  the  west,  yet  affords 
abundant  premises  to  prompt  investigation  and  rational  conjecture. 
The  mounds  and  tumuli  of  the  west,  are  to  be  ranked  among  the 
most  wonderful  antiquities  of  the  world,  on  the  account  of  their 
number,  magnitude,  and  obscurity  of  origin. 

"  They  generally  are  found  on  fertile  bottoms  and  near  the 
rivers.  Several  hundreds  have  been  discovered  along  the  valley 
of  the  Mississippi;  the  largest  of  which  stands  not  far  from 
Wheeling,  on  the  Ohio.  This  mound  is  fifty  rods  in  circumfer- 
ence, and  ninety  feet  in  perpendicular  height." 

This  is  found  filled  with  thousands  of  human  skeletons,  and 
was  doubtless  a  place  of  general  deposite  of  the  dead  for  ages; 
which  must  have  been  contiguous  to  some  lage  city,  where  the 
dead  were  placed  in  gradation,  one  layer  above  another,  till  it 
reached  a  natural  climax,  agreeing  with  the  slope  commenced  at 
its  base  or  foundation. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  41 

It  is  not  credible,  that  this  mound  was  made  by  the  ancestors  of 
the  modern  Indians.  Its  magnitude,  and  the  vast  numbers  of 
dead  deposited  there,  denote  a  population  too  great  to  have  been 
supported  by  mere  fishing  and  hunting,  as  the  manner  of  Indians 
has  always  been.  A  population  sufficient  to  raise  such  a  mound 
as  this,  of  earth,  by  the  gradual  interment  of  the  deceased  inha- 
tants,  would  necessarily  be  too  far  spread,  to  make  it  convenient 
for  the  living  to  transport  their  dead  to  one  single  place  of  reposi- 
tory. The  modern  Indians  have  ever  been  known,  since  the 
acquaintance  of  white  men  with  them,  to  live  only  in  small  towns; 
which  refutes  the  idea  of  its  having  been  made  by  any  other  peo- 
ple than  such  as  differed  exceedingly  from  the  improvident  and  in- 
dolent native;  and  must,  therefore,  have  been  erected  by  a  people 
more  ancient  than  the  Indian  aborigines,  or  wandering  tribes. 

"  Some  of  these  mounds  have  been  opened,  when,  not  only 
vast  quantities  of  human  bones  have  been  found,  but  also  instru- 
ments of  warfare,  broken  earthen  vases,  a*id  trinkets.  From  the 
trees  growing  on  them,  it  is  supposed,  they  have  already  existed 
at  least  six  hundred  years;  and  whether  these  ti-ees  were  the  first, 
second  or  third  crop,  is  unknown;  if  the  second  only, which,  from 
the  old  and  decayed  timber,  partly  buried  in  the  vegetable  mould 
and  leaves,  seems  to  favor;  then  it  is  all  of  twelve  hundred  years 
since  they  were  abandoned,  if  not  more. 

Foreign  travellers  complain,  that  America  presents  nothing 
like  ruins  within  her  boundaries;  no  ivy  mantled  towers,  nor  moss 
covered  turrets,  as  in  the  other  quarters  of  the  earth.  Old  Fort 
Warren,  on  the  Hudson,  rearing  its  lofty  decayed  sides  high 
above  West  Point;  and  the  venerable  remains  of  two  wars, at  Ti- 
conderoga,  upon  Lake  Champlain,  they  say,  afford  something  of 
the  kind.  But  what  are  mouldering  castles,  falling  turrets,  or 
crumbling  abbeys,  in  comparison  with  those  ancient  and  artificial 
aboriginal  hills,  which  have  outlived  generations,  and  even  all 
tradition;  the  workmanship  of  altogether  unknown  hands. 

Place  these  monuments  and  secret  repositories  of  the  dead,  to- 
gether with  the  innumerable  mounds  and  monstrous  fortifications, 
which  are  scattered  over  America,  in  England,  and  on  the  conti- 
nent of  Europe,  how  would  their  virtuosi  examine,  and  their  an- 
tiquarians fill  volumes  with  their  probable  histories.  How  would 
their  fame  be  conveyed  from  learned  bodies,  and  through  literary 


42  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

volumes,  inquiring  who  were  the  builders,  of  what  age  of  the 
world,  whence  came  they,  and  their  descendants;  if  any,  what 
has  become  of  them;  these  would  be  the  themes  of  constant  spe- 
culation and  inquiry. 

At  Marietta,  a  place  not  only  celebrated  as  being  the  first  set- 
tlement on  the  Ohio,  but  has  also  acquired  much  celebrity,  from 
the  existence  of  those  extensive  and  supposed  fortifications,  which 
are  situated  near  the  town.  They  consist  of  walls  and  mounds 
of  earth,  running  in  straight  lines,  from  six  to  ten  feet  high,  and 
nearly  forty  broad  at  their  base;  but  originally  must  have  been 
much  higher.  There  is  also,  at  this  place,  one  fort  of  this  an- 
cient description,  which  encloses  nearly  fifty  acres  of  land. 

There  are  openings  in  this  fortification,  which  are  supposed  to 
have  been,  when  thronged  with  its  own  busy  multitude,  "  used  as 
gateways,  with  a  passage  from  one  of  them,  formed  by  two  pa- 
rallel walls  of  earth,  leading  towards  the  river." 

This  contrivance  was  undoubtedly  for  a  defence  against  surprise 
by  an  enemy,  while  the  inhabitants  dwelling  within  should  fetch 
water  from  the  river,  or  descend  thither  to  wash,  as  in  the  Gan- 
ges, among  the  Hindoos.  Also  the  greatness  of  this  fort  is  evi- 
dence, not  only  of  the  power  of  its  builders,  but  also  of  those  they 
feared.  Who  can  tell  but  that  they  have,  by  intestine  feuds  and 
wars,  exterminated  themselves  1  Such  instances  are  not  unfre- 
quent  among  petty  tribes  of  the  earth.  Witness  the  war  between 
Benjamin  and  his  brother  tribes,  when  but  a  mere  handful  of 
their  number  remained  to  redeem  them  from  complete  annihila- 
tion. Many  nations,  an  account  of  whom  as  once  existing,  is 
found  on  the  page  of  history,  now  have  not  a  trace  left  behind. 
More  than  sixty  tribes  which  once  traversed  the  woods  of  the  west, 
and  who  were  known  to  the  first  settlers  of  the  New-England 
states,  are  now  extinct. 

The  French  of  the  Mississippi  have  an  account,  that  an  exter- 
minating battle  was  fought  in  the  beginning  of  the  17th  century, 
about  two  hundred  and  thirty  years  ago,  on  the  ground  where 
Fort  Harrison  now  stands;  between  the  Indians  living  on  the  Mis- 
sissippi, and  those  of  the  Wabash.  The  bone  of  contention  was, 
the  lands  lying  between  those  rivers,  which  both  parties  claimed. 
There  were  about  1000  warriors  on  each  oide.  The  condition  of 
the  fight  was,  that  the  victors  should  possess  the  lands  in  dispute. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST. 


43 


The  grandeur  of  the  prize  was  peculiarly  calculated  to  inflame  the 
ardor  of  savage  minds.  The  contest  cemmenced  about  sunrise. 
Both  parties  fought  desperately.  The  Wabash  warriors  came  off 
conquerors,  having  seven  men  left  alive  at  sunset,  and  their  ad- 
versaries, the  Mississippians,  but  five.  This  battle  was  fought 
nearly  fifty  years  before  their  acquaintance  with  white  men.''' — 
Webster's  Gazetteer,  1817,  p.  69. 

Also  the  ancient  Eries,  once  inhabiting  about  Lake  Erie,  and 
gave  name  to  that  body  of  water  ;  were  exterminated  by  their 
enemies,  another  tribe  of  Indians — so  far  as  that  but  one  member 
of  that  nation,  a  warrior,  remained. 

It  is  possible,  whoever  the  authors  of  these  great  works  were, 
or  however  long  they  may  have  lived  on  the  continent,  that  they 
may  have,  in  the  same  way,  by  intestine  feuds  and  wars,  weak- 
ened themselves,  so  that  when  the  Tartars,  Scythians,  and  de- 
scendants of  the  ten  lost  tribes,  came  across  the  straits  of  Bhering, 
that  they  fell  an  easy  prey  to  those  fierce  and  savage  northern 
hordes. 

It  is  not  likely  that  the  vast  warlike  preparations  which  extend 
over  the  whole  continent,  south  of  certain  places  in  Canada,  were 
thrown  up  all  of  a  sudden,  on  ajirst  discovery  of  a  strange  enemy; 
for  it  might  be  inquired,  how  should  they  know  such  a  mode  of 
defence,  unless  they  had  acquired  it  in  the  course  of  ages,  arising 
from  necessity,  and  were  constructed  to  defend  against  the  inva- 
sions of  each  other"? — being  of  various  origin  and  separate  inte- 
rests, as  was  much  the  situation  of  the  ancient  nations,  in  every 
part  of  the  world. 

Petty  tribes  of  the  same  origin,  over  the  whole  earth,  have  been 
found  to  wage  perpetual  war  against  each  other,  from  motives  of 
avarice,  power,  or  hatred.  In  the  most  ancient  eras  of  the  history 
of  man,  little  walled  towns,  which  were  raised  for  the  security  of 
a  few  families,  under  a  chief,  king,  or  patriarch,  are  known  to 
have  existed;  which  is  evidence  of  the  disjointed  and  unharmoni- 
ous  state  of  human  society;  out  of  which,  wars,  rapine  and  plun- 
der arose.  Such  may  have  been  the  state  of  man  in  America, 
before  the  Indians  found  their  way  here;  the  evidence  of  which, 
is  the  innumerable  fortifications,  found  every  where  in  the  western 
regions. 

Within  this  fort,  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  found  at 


44  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Marietta,  are  elevated  squares,  situated  at  the  corners,  one  hun- 
dred and  eighty  feet  long,  by  one  hundred  and  thirty  broad,  nine 
feet  high,  and  level  on  the  top.  On  these  squares,  erected  at  the 
corners  of  this  great  enclosure,  were  doubtless  placed  some  modes 
of  annoyance  to  a  besieging  enemy;  such  as  engines  to  sling  stones 
with,  or  to  throwjthe  dart  and  spear,  or  whatever  might  have  been 
their  modes  of  defence. 

Outside  of  this  fort,  is  a  mound,  differing  in  form  from  their 
general  configuration:  its  shape  is  that  of  a  sugar  loaf,  the  base 
of  which  is  more  than  a  hundred  feet  in  circumference;  its  height 
thirty,  encompassed  by  a  ditch,  and  defended  by  a  parapet,  or 
wall  beyond  the  ditch,  about  breast  high,  through  which  is  a  way 
toward  the  main  fort.  Human  bones  have  been  taken  from  many 
of  these  mounds,  and  charcoal,  with  fragments  of  pottery;  in  one 
place,  a  skeleton  of  a  man,  buried  east  and  west,  after  the  manner 
of  enlightened  nations,  was  found,  as  if  they  understood  the  car- 
dinal points  of  the  compass.  On  the  breast  of  this  skeleton  was 
found  a  quantity  of  isinglass,  a  substance  considered  sacred  by 
the  Mexicans,  and  adored  as  a  deity. 


Ruins  of  a  Roman  Fort  at  Marietta. 

But,  respecting  this  fort,  as  above,  we  imagine  that  even  the 
Romans  may  have  built  it,  however  strange  this  may  appear.  The 
reader  will  be  so  kind  as  to  have  patience,  till  we  have  advanced 
all  our  reasons  for  this  strange  conjecture,  before  he  casts  it  from 
him  as  impossible. 

Our  reasonsTforTthis  idea  arise  out  of  the  great  similarity  there 
is  between  its  form  and  fortifications,  and  camps,  built  by  the  an- 
cient Romans.  And  in  order  to  show  the  similarity,  we  have  quo- 
ted the  account  of  the  forms  of  Roman  camps,  from  Josephus's 
description  of  their  military  works.  See  his  works,  Book  v.  chap. 
5,  page  219,  as  follows: 

44  Nor  can  their  enemies  easily  surprise  them  with  the  sudden- 
ness of  their  incursions,  for  as  soon  as  they  have  marched  into  an 
enemy's  land,  they  do  not  begin  to  fight  till  they  have  walled  their 


45 

AKD    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST. 

can,  about;  nor  h  the  fence  they  raise  rashly  «*<**£« 
nor  do  they  all  abide  in  it;  nor  do  those  that  are  m  it  take  the 
place  at  random:  but  if  if  happens  that  the  ground  is  uneven,  it  is 

first  levelled."  f        , 

«  Their  camps  are  also  four  square  by  measure;  as  for  what 
3pace  is  within  the  camp,  it  is  set  apart  for  tents,  but  the  outward 
circumference  hath  the  resemblance  to  a  wall-  and  is  adorned 
with  towers  at  equal  distances,  where,  between  the  towers,  stand 
the  engines  for  throwing  arrows  and  darts,  and  for  slinging  stones, 
where  they  lay  all  other  engines  that  can  annoy  the  enemy,  ready 
for  their  several  operations. 

..  They  also  erect  four  gates,  one  in  the  middle  of  each  s.de  of 
the  eirenmferenee,  or  square,  and  those  large  enough  for  the  en- 
tranee  of  beasts,  and  wide  enough  for  making  excursions,  tf  oc- 
casion should  require.     They  divide  the-camp  withm  into  streets 
very  conveniently,  and  p.ace  the  tents  of  the  comman  er     n  h 
middle-  in  the  very  midst  of  all,  is  the  general's  own  tent,  m  the 
:  ure'and  form  of  a  temple,  insomuch  that  it  appears  to  be  a  cfly 
tail,  on  the  sudden,  with  its  market  place,  and  places  fo      and , 
craf,  trades,  and  with  seats  for  the  officers,  «I»™^'^1 
where,  if  any  differences  anse,  their  causes  are  heard  and  de 

KTThed'  camp,  and  all  that  is  m  it,  is  encompassed  with  i«B 
round  about,  and  that  sooner  than  one  wouldjimagine  and  toby 
he  mu  titud    and  skill  of  the  laborer,     And  if  occas.on  reqmre. 
a   rich  is  drawn  round  the  whole,  whose  depth  ,s  four  cub,, 
lad  i*  breadth  equal,"  which  is  a  trifle  more  than  «  fee.  m  depth 

"ThfLlarity  between  the  Roman  camps  and  the  one  near 
Marttta  c  nsisfs  as  follows:  they  are  both  four  square;  the  one 
2g  near  .be  great  for.,  and  is  connected  by  two  par* 
walls,  as  described;  has  also  a  ditch  surroundmg  ,t,  as  .he  Ro 
Tans  sometimes  encircled  the.rs;  and  doubtless,  when ,  fi£  con- 
s.ructed,  had  a  fence  of  timber  (as  Joseph,*  says  the  Romans 
had  )  an  a-nnd  it,  and  al,  other  for*  of  that  desenphon;  but  «,me 

^fffirRoman^mp  bad  iuelevated  square,  a,  its  corners  for 
the  purposes  of  overlooking  the  foe,  and  of  shooting  stones,  dar* 
and  arrows;  so  bad  the  fort  a.  Marietta,  of  moro'than  a  hundred 


46  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

feet  square,  on  an  average,  of  their  forms,  and  nine  feet  high.  Its 
parapets  and  gateways  are  similar;  also  the  probable  extent  of  the 
Roman  encampments  agrees  well  with  the  one  at  Marietta,  which 
embraces  near  fifty  acres  within  its  enclosure;  a  space  sufficient  to 
have  contained  a  great  army;  with  streets  and  elevated  squares  at 
its  corners,  like  the  Romans.  Dr.  Morse,  the  geographer,  says, 
the  war  camps  of  the  ancient  Danes,  Belgaj  and  Saxons,  as  found 
in  England,  were  universally  of  the  circular,  while  those  of  the 
Romans,  in  the  same  country,  are  distinguished  by  the  square  form; 
is  not  this,  therefore,  a  trait  of  the  same  people's  work  in  America 
as  in  England? 

Who  can  tell  but  during  the  four  hundred  years  the  Romans  had 
all  the  west  of  Europe  attached  to  their  empire,  but  they  may  have 
found  their  way  to  America,  as  well  as  other  nations,  the  Welch 
and  Scandinavians,  in  after  ages,  as  we  shall  show  before  we  end 
the  volume. 

Rome,  it  must  be  remembered,  was  mistress  of  the  known 
world,  as  they  supposed,  and  were  in  the  possession  of  the  arts  and 
sciences;  with  a  knowledge  of  navigation,  sufficient  to  traverse 
the  oceans  of  the  globe,  even  without  the  compass,  by  means  of 
the  stars  by  night,  and  the  sun  by  day. 

The  history  of  England  informs  us,  that  as  early  as  fifty-five 
years  before  the  Christian  era,  the  Romans  invaded  the  island  of 
Britain,  and  that  their  ships  were  so  large  and  heavy,  and  drew 
such  a  depth  of  water,  that  their  soldiers  were  obliged  to  leap  into 
the  sea  and  fight  their  way  to  the  shore,  struggling  with  the  waves 
and  the  enemy,  both  at  once,  because  they  could  not  bring  their 
vessels  near  the  shore,  on  account  of  their  size. 

North  America  has  not  yet  been  peopled  from  Europe  so  long, 
by  two  hundred  years,  as  the  Romans  were  in  possession  of  the 
island  of  Britain.  Now,  what  has  not  America  effected  in  enter- 
prise, during  this  time?  And  although  her  advantages  are  supe- 
rior to  those  of  the  Romans,  when  they  held  England  as  a  pro- 
vince, yet  we  are  not  to  suppose  they  were  idle,  especially  when 
their  character,  at  that  time,  was  a  martial  and  a  maritime  one. 
In  this  character,  therefore,  were  they  not  exactly  fitted  to  make 
discoveries  about  in  the  northern  and  western  parts  of  the  Atlan- 
tic, and  may,  therefore,  have  found  America;  made  partial  set- 
tlements in  various  places;  coasted  along  down  the  shores  of  this 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  47 

country,  found  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi,  and  thence  up  that 
stream,  making  here  and  there  a  settlement?  This  supposition  is 
as  natural,  and  as  possible  for  the  Romans  to  have  done,  as  that 
Hudson  should  find  the  mouth  of  the  North  river,  and  explore  it 
as  far  north  as  to  where  the  city  of  Albany  is  now  standing.  It 
was  equally  in  their  power  to  have  found  this  coast  by  chance,  as 
the  Scandinavians  in  the  year  1000,  or  thereabouts,  who  made  a 
settlement  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence.  But  mare  of  this 
in  duo  time. 

To  show  that  the  Romans  did  actually  go  on  voyages  of  discovery, 
while  in  possession  of  Britain,  we  quote  from  the  history  of  En- 
gland, that  when  Julius  Agricola  was  governor  of  South  Britain, 
he  sailed  quite  round  it,  and  ascertained  it  to  be  an  island. 

This  was  about  one  hundred  3'ears  after  their  first  subduing  the 
country,  or  fifty-two  years  after  Christ. 

But  they  may  have  had  a  knowledge  of  the  existence  of  Ame- 
rica, prior  to  their  invasion  of  Britain.  And  lest  the  reader  may 
be  alarmed  at  such  a  position,  we  hasten  to  show  in  what  manner 
they  might  have  obtained  it,  by  relating  a  late  discovery  of  a 
planter  in  South  America. 

"  In  the  month  of  December,  1827,  a  planter  discovered  in  a 
field,  a  short  distance  from  Mont-Video,  a  sort  of  tomb-stone, 
upon  which  strange,  and  to  him  unknown,  signs  or  characters 
were  engraved.  He  caused  this  stone,  which  covered  a  small 
excavation,  formed  with  masonry,  to  be  raised;  when  he  found 
two  exceedingly  ancient  swords,  a  helmet  and  shield,  which  had 
suffered  much  from  rust ;  also,  an  earthen  vessel  of  large  capa- 
city." 

The  planter  caused  the  swords,  the  helmet  and  earthen  amphora, 
together  with  the  stone  slab,  which  covered  the  whole,  to  be  re- 
moved to  Mont-Video,  where,  in  spite  of  the  effect  of  time,  Greek 
words  were  easily  made  out,  which,  when  translated,  read  as  fol- 
lows:— "During  the  dominion  of  Alexander,  the  son  of  Philip, 
king  of  Macedon,  in  the  sixty-third  Olympiad,  Ptolemaios" — it 
was  impossible  to  decipher  the  rest,  on  account  of  the  ravages  of 
time  on  the  engraving  of  the  stone. 

On  the  handle  of  one  of  the  swords  was  the  portrait  of  a  man, 
supposed  to  be  Alexander  the  Great.  On  the  helmet  there  is 
sculptured  work,  that  must  have  been  executed  by  the  most  exqui- 


48  AMERICA*    ANTIQUITIES 

site  skill,  representing  Achilles  dragging  the  corpse  of  Hector 
round  the  walls  of  Troy;  an  account  of  which  is  familiar  to  every 
classic  scholar. 

This  discovery  was  similar  to  the  Fabula  Heica,  the  bas-relief 
stucco,  found  in  the  ruins  of  the  Via  Appia,  at  Fratachio,  in  Spain, 
belonging  to  the  princess  of  Colona,  which  represented  all  the 
principal  scenes  in  the  Iliad  and  Odyssey. 

From  this  it  is  quite  clear,  says  the  editor  of  the  Cabinet  of  In- 
struction and  Literature,  from  which  we  have  extracted  this  ac- 
count, vol.  3,  p.  99,  that  the  discovery  of  this  monumental  altar 
is  proof  that  a  cotemporary  of  Aristotle,  one  of  the  Greek  phi- 
losophers, has  dug  up  the  soil  of  Brazil  and  La  Plata,  in  South 
America. 

It  is  conjectured  that  this  Ptolemaios,  mentioned  on  the  stone, 
was  the  commander  of  Alexander's  fleet,  which  is  supposed  to 
have  been  overtaken  by  a  storm  at  sea,  in  the  great  ocean,  (the 
Atlantic)  as  the  ancients  called  it,  and  were  driven  on  to  the  coast 
of  Brazil,  or  the  South  American  coast,  where  they  doubtless 
erected  the  above  mentioned  monument,  to  preserve  the  memory 
of  the  voyage  to  so  distant  a  country;  and  that  it  might  not  be 
lost  to  the  Avorld,  if  any  in  after  ages  might  chance  to  find  it,  as 
at  last  it  was  permitted  to  be,  in  the  progress  of  events. 

The  above  conjecture,  however,  that  Ptolemaios,  a  name  found 
engraved  on  the  stone  slab  which  covered  the  mason  work,  as  be- 
fore mentioned,  was  one  of  Alexander's  admirals,  is  not  well 
founded,  as  there  is  no  mention  of  such  an  admiral  in  the  em- 
ploy of  that  emperor,  found  on  the  page  of  the  history  of  those 
times. 

But  the  names  of  Nearchus  and  Onesicritus  are  mentioned,  as 
being  admirals  of  the  fleets  of  Alexander  the  Great;  and  the  name 
of  Pytheas,  who  lived  at  the  same  time,  is  mentioned,  as  being  a 
Greek  philosopher,  geographer  and  astronomer,  as  well  as  a  voy- 
ager, if  not  an  admiral,  as  hie  made  several  voyages  into  the  great 
Atlantic  ocean;  which  are  mentioned  by  Eratosthenes,  a  Greek 
philosopher,  mathematician  and  historian,  who  flourished  two  hun- 
dred years  before  Christ. 

Strabo,  a  celebrated  geographer  and  voyager,  who  lived  about 
the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  speaks  of  the 
voyages  of  Pytheas,  by  way  of  admission,  and  says  that  his  know- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WE8T.  49 

ledge  of  Spain,  Gaul,  Germany  and  Britain,  and  all  the  countries 
of  the  north  of  Europe  was  extremely  limited.  He  had,  indeed, 
voyaged  along  the  coasts  of  those  countries,  but  had  obtained  but 
an  indistinct  knowledge  of  their  relative  situations. 

During  the  adventures  of  this  man  at  sea,  for  the  very  purpose 
of  ascertaining  the  geography  of  the  earth,  by  tracing  the  coasts 
of  countries,  there  was  a  great  liability  of  his  being  driven  off  in 
a  western  direction,  not  only  by  the  current  which  sets  always 
towards  America,  but  also  by  the  trade  winds,  which  blow  in  the 
.same  direction  for  several  months  in  the  year. 

Pytheas,  therefore,  with  his  fleet,  it  is  most  probable,  either  by 
design  or  storms,  is  the  man  who  visited  the  American^coast,  and 
caused  this  subterranean  monument  of  masonry  to  be  erected.  The 
Ptolemaios,  or  Ptolemy,  mentioned  on  the  stone,  may  refer  to  one 
of  the  four  generals  of  Alexander,  called  sometimes  Ptolemy  La- 
gus,  or  Sotcr.  This  is  the  man  who  had  Egypt  for  his  share  of 
the  conquests  of  Alexander;  and  it  is  likely  the  mention  of  his 
name  on  the  stone,  in  connection  with  that  of  Alexander, was  caus- 
ed either  by  his  presence  at  the  time  the  stone  was  prepared,  or 
because  he  patronised  the  voyages  and  geographical  researches  of 
the  philosopher  and  navigator,  Pytheas. 

Alexander  the  Great  flourished  about  three  hundred  years  be- 
fore Christ;  he  was  a  Grecian,  the  origin  of  whose  nation  is  said 
to  have  been  Japetus,  a  descendant  of  Japheth,  one  of  the  sons  of 
Noah,  as  before  shown. 

Let  it  be  observed,  the  kingdom  of  Macedon,  of  which  Alex- 
ander was  the  last,  as  well  as  the  greatest  of  .its  kings,  com- 
menced eight  hundred  and  fourteen  years  before^Christ,  whicli 
was  sixty-one  years  earlier  than  the  commencement  of  the  Ro- 
mans. 

But,  what  is  to  be  learned  from  this  story  about  the  Greeks,  re- 
specting any  knowledge  in  possession  of  the  Romans  about  a  con- 
tinent west  of  Europe]  Simply  this,  that  an  account  of  this  voy- 
age, whether  it  was  an  accidental  one,  or  a  voyage  of  discovery, 
could  not  but  be  known  to  the  Romans,  as  well  as  to  the  Greeks, 
and  entered  on  the  records  of  the  nation  on  their  return.  But 
where,  then,  is  the  record  ?  We  must  go  to  the  flames  of  the  Goths 
and  Vandals,  who  overran  the  Roman  empire,  in  which  accounts 
of  the  discoveries  of  countries  and  the  histories  of  antiquity  were 

4 


50  AMFRICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

destroyed;  casting  over  thoso  regions  which  they  subdued,  the 
gloom  of  barbarous  ignorance,  congenial  with  the  shades  of  the 
forests  of  the  north,  from  whence  they  originated:  on  which  ac- 
count, countries,  and  the  knowledge  of  many  arts  anciently  known, 
were  to  be  discovered  over  again;  and  among  them,  it  is  believed, 
was  America. 

When  Columbus  discovered  this  country,  and  had  returned  to 
Spain,  it  was  soon  known  to  all  Europe.  The  same  we  may  sup- 
pose of  the  discovery  of  the  same  country  by  the  Greeks,  though 
with  infinitely  less  publicity;  because  the  world  at  the  time  had 
not  the  advantage  of  printing;  yet,  in  some  degree,  the  discovery 
must  have  been  known,  especially  among  the  great  men  of  both 
Greeks  and  Romans. 

The  Grecian  or^Macedonian  kingdom,  after  the  death  of  Alex- 
ander, maintained  its  existence  but  a  short  time,  one  hundred  and 
forty-four  years  only;  when  the  Romans  defeated  Perseus,  which 
ended  the  Macedonian  kingdom,  one  hundred  and  sixty-eight  years 
before  Christ. 

At  this  time,  and  thereafter,  the  Romans  held  on  their  course  of 
war  and  conquest,  till  four  hundred  and  ten  years  after  Christ, — 
amounting  in  all,  from  their  beginning,  till  Rome  was  taken  and 
plundered  by  Alaric,  king  of  theVVisigoths,  to  one  thousand,  one 
hundred  and  sixty-three  years. 

Is  it  to  be  supposed,  the  Romans,  a  warlike,  enlightened,  and 
enterprising  people^who'had  found  their  way  by  sea  so  far  north 
from  Rome  as  to  the  island  of  Britain,  and  actually  sailed  round 
it,  would  not  exploreTfarther  north  and  west,  especially  as  they 
had  some  hundred  years  opportunity,  while  in  possession  of  the 
north  of  Europe? 

Morse,  the  geographer,  in  his  second  volume,  page  126, 
says: — Ireland,  which  is  situated  west  of  England,  was  probably 
discovered  by  the  Phoenicians;  the  era  of  whose  voyages  and 
maritime  exploits  commenced  more  than  fourteen  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  and  continued  several  ages.  Their  country  was 
situated  at  the  east  end  of  the  Mediterranean  sea;  so  that  a  voy- 
age to  the  Atlantic,  through  the  strait  of  Gibraltar  west,  would 
be  a  distance  of  about  two  thousand  and  three  hundred  miles, 
and  from  Gibraltar  to  Ireland,  a  voyage  of  about  one  thousand 


AVD    DISCOVERIES    IX    THE    WFST.  51 

and  four  hundred  miles;  which,  in  the  whole  amount,  is  near  four 
thousand. 

Ireland  is  farther  north,  by  about  five  degrees,  than  Newfound- 
land, and  the  latter  only  about  eighteen  hundred  miles  southwest 
from  Ireland;  so  that  while  the  Phoenicians  were  coasting  and 
voyaging  about  in  the  Atlantic,  in  so  high  a  northern  latitude  as 
Ireland  and  England,  may  well  be  supposed  to  have  discovered 
Newfoundland,  (either  by  being  lost  or  driven  there  by  storm,) 
which  is  very  near  the  coast  of  America.  Phcenician  letters  are 
said  to  be  engraven  on  some  rocks  on  Taunton  river,  near  the 
sea,  in  Massachusetts;  if  so,  this  is  proof  of  the  position. 

Some  hundreds  of  years  after  the  first  historical  notice  of  the 
Phcenician  voyages,  and  two  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of 
Christ,  the  Geeks,  it  is  said,  became  acquainted  with  Ireland 
and  was  known  among  them  by  the  name  of  Juverna.  Ptolemy, 
the  Egyptian  geographer,  who  nourished  about  one  hundred  years 
after  Christ,  has  given  a  map  of  that  island,  which  is  said  to  be 
very  correct. — (Morse.) 

Here  we  have  satisfactory  historical  evidence,  that  Ireland,  as 
well,  of  course,  as  all  the  coast  of  northern  Europe,  with  the  very 
islands  adjacent,  were  known;  first,  to  the  Phoenicians;  second, 
to  the  Greeks;  third,  to  the  Romans;  and,  fourth,  to  the  Egyp- 
tians— in  those  early  ages,  from  which  arises  a  great  probability 
that  America  may  have  been  well  known  to  the  ancient  nations  of 
the  old  world  On  which  account,  when  the  Romans  had  extend- 
ed their  conquests  so  far  north  as  nearly  to  old  Norway,  in  latitude 
60  degrees,  over  the  greater  part  of  Europe;  they  were  well  pre- 
pared to  explore  the  North  Atlantic,  in  a  western  direction,  in 
quest  of  new  countries;  having  already  sufficient  data  to  believe 
western  countries  existed. 

It  is  not  impossible  but  the  Danes,  Norwegians  and  Welsh  may 
have  ntjirst  obtained  some  knowledge  of  western  lands,  islands  and 
territories,  from  the  discoveries  of  the  Romans,  or  from  their 
opinions,  and  handed  down  the  story,  till  the  Scandinavians  or 
Norwegians  discovered  Iceland,  Greenland  and  America,  manv 
hundred  years  before  the  time  of  Columbus. 

But,  however  this  may  be,  it  is  certain  those  nations  of  the 
north  of  Europe  did  visit  this  country,  as  we  have  promised  to 
show  in   its  proper  place.     Would  Columbus  have  made  this  at- 

4* 


52  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

tempt,  if  he  had  not  believed,  or  conjectured,  there  was  a  western 
continent;  or  by  some  means  obtained  hints  respecting  it,  or  the 
probability  of  its  existence?  It  is  said,  Columbus  found,  at  a  cer- 
tain time,  the  corpses  of  two  men  of  a  tawny  complexion,  floating 
in  the  sea,  near  the  coast  of  Spain,  which  he  knew  were  not  of 
European  origin,  but  had  been  driven  by  the  sea  from  some  un- 
known western  country;  also,  timber  and  branches  of  trees,  all  of 
which  confirmed  him  in  his  opinion  of  the  existence  of  other  coun- 
tries westward. 

If  the  Romans  may  have  found  this  country,  they  may  also  have 
attempted  its  colonization,  as  the  immense  square  forts  of  the  west 
would  seem  to  suggest. 

In  1821,  on  the  bank  of  the  river  Desperes,  in  Missouri,  was 
found,  by  an  Indian,  a  Roman  coin,  and  presented  to  Gov.  Clarke. 
This  is  no  more  singular  than  the  discovery  of  a  Persian  coin  near 
a  spring  on  the  Ohio,  some  feet  under  ground;  as  we  have  shown 
in  another  place  of  this  work — all  of  which  go  to  encourage  the 
conjecture  respecting  the  presence  of  the  ancient  Romans  in  Ame- 
rica. The  remains  of  former  dwellings,  found  along  the  Ohio, 
where  the  stream  has,  in  many  places,  washed  away  its  banks, 
heartlis  and  fire  places  are  brought  to  light,  from  two  to  six  feet 
below  the  surface. 

Near  these  remains,  are  found  immense  quantities  of  muscle 
shells  and  bones  of  animals.  From  the  depths  of  many  of  these 
remnants  of  chimnies,  and  from  the  fact  that  trees  as  large  as  any 
in  the  surrounding  forest,  were  found  growing  on  the  ground  above 
those  fire  places,  at  the  time  the  country  was  first  settled  by  its 
present  inhabitants,  the  conclusion  is  drawn  that  a  very  long  pe- 
riod has  elapsed  since  these  subterraneous  remnants  of  the  dwel- 
lings of  man  were  deserted. 

Hearths  and  fire  places. — Are  not  these  evidences  that  build- 
ings once  towered  above  them?  If  not  such  as  now  acommodate 
the  millions  of  America,  yet  they  may  have  been  such  as  the  an- 
cient Britons  used  at  the  time  the  Romans  first  invaded  their 
country. 

These  were  formed  of  logs  set  up  endwise,  drawn  in  at  the 
top,  so  that  the  smoke  might  pass  out  at  an  aperture  left  open 
at  the  summit.  They  were  not  square  on  the  ground,  as  houses 
are  now  built,  but  set  in  a  circle,  one  log   against   the   other, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  53 

with  the  hearth  and  fire  place  in  the  centre.  At  the  opening  in 
the  top,  where  the  smoke  went  out,  the  light  came  in,  as  no 
other  window  was  then  used.  There  are  still  remaining,  in 
several  parts  of  England,  the  vestiges  of  large  stone  buildings, 
made  in  this  way;  that  is,  in  a  circle. — (Blair's  History  of  Eng- 
land, p.  8.) 

At  Cincinnati,  there  are  two  museums,  one  of  which  contains 
a  great  variety  of  western  antiquities,  many  skulls  of  Indians,  and 
more  than  a  hundred  remains  of  what  has  been  dug  out  of  the 
aboriginal  mounds.  The  most  strange  and  curious  of  all,  is  a  cup, 
made  of  clay,  with  three  faces  on  the  sides  of  the  cup,  each  pre- 
senting regular  features  of  a  man,  and  beautifully  delineated.  It 
is  the  same  represented  on  the  plate. — (See  letter  E.) 

A  great  deal  has  been  said,  and  not  a  little  written,  by  antiqua- 
rians about  this  cup.  It  was  found  in  one  of  those  mysterious 
mounds,  and  is  known  by  the  name  of  the  triune  cup. 

In  this  neighborhood,  the  Yellow  Springs,  a  day's  ride  below 
Cincinnati,  stands  one  of  those  singular  mounds.  Whenever  we 
view  those  most  singukrrobjects  of  curiosity,  and  remains  of  art,  a 
thousand  inquiries  spring  up  in  the  mind.  They  have  excited  the 
wonder  of  all  who  have  seen  or  heard  of  them.  Who  were  those 
ancients  of  the  west,  and  when,  and  for  what  purpose  these  mounds 
were  constructed,  are  questions  of  the  most  interesting  nature,  and 
have  engaged  the  researches  of  the  most  inquisitive  antiquarians. 
Abundant  evidence,  however,  can  be  procured,  that  they  are  not 
of  Indian  origin. 

With  this  sentiment  there  is  a  general  acquiescence;  however, 
we  think  it  proper,  in  this  place,  to  quote  Dr.  Beck's  remarks  on 
this  point,  from  his  Gazetteer  of  the  States  of  Illinois  and  Mis- 
souri.    (See  page  308. ) 

"  Ancient  works  exist  on  this  river,  the  Arkansas,  as  elsewhere, 
The  remains  of  mounds  and  fortifications  are  almost  every  where 
to  be  seen.  One  of  the  largest  mounds  in  this  country  has  been 
thrown  up  on  this  stream,  (the  Wabash,)  within  the  last  thirty  or 
forty  years,  by  the  Osages,  near  the  great  Osage  village,  in  honor 
of  one  of  their  deceased  chiefs.  This  fact  proves  conclusively 
the  original  object  of  these  mounds,  and  refutes  the  theory  that 
they  must  necessarily  have  been  erected  by  a  race  of  men  more 
civilized  than  the   present  tribes  of  Indians.     Were  it  necessary, 


54  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

(says  Dr.  Beck,)  numerous  other  facts  might  be  adduced  to  prove, 
that  the  mounds  are  no  other  than  the  tombs  of  their  great  men." 

That  this  is  one  of  their  uses  there  is  no  doubt,  but  not  their  ex- 
clusive use.  The  vast  hcighth  of  one  of  them,  which  is  more  than 
a  hundred  feet,  would  seem  to  point  them  out  as  places  of  lookout, 
which,  if  the  country  in  the  days  when  their  builders  flourished, 
was  cleared  and  cultivated,  would  overlook  the  country  to  a  great 
distance;  and  if  it  were  not,  still  their  towering  summits  would 
surmount  even  the  interference  of  the  forests. 

But  although  the  Osage  Indians  have  so  recently  thrown  up  one 
such  mound,  yet  it  does  not  prove  them  to  be  of  American  Indian 
origin;  and  as  this  is  an  isolated  case,  would  rather  argue  that 
the  Osage  tribe  have  originally  descended  from  their  more  ancient 
progenitors,  the  inhabitants  of  this  country  prior  to  the  intrusions 
of  the  late  Indians  fi'om  Asia. 

Before  we  close  this  work,  we  shall  attempt  to  make  this  appear 
from  their  own  traditions,  which  have  of  late  been  procured  from 
the  most  ancient  of  their  tribes,  the  Wyandots,  as  handed  down 
for  hundreds  of  years,  and  from  other  sources. 

The  very  form  and  character  which  Dr.  Beck  has  given  the 
Osage  Indians,  argues  them  of  a  superior  stock,  or  rather  a  dif- 
ferent race  of  men,  as  follows  :  "  In  person,  the  Osages  are 
among  the  largest  and  best  formed  Indians,  and  are  said  to  pos- 
sess fine  military  capacities;  but  residing  as  they  do  in  villages, 
and  having  made  considerable  advances  in  agriculture,  they  seem 
less  addicted  to  war  than  their  northern  neighbors." 

The  whole  of  this  character  given  of  the  Osage  Indians,  their 
military  taste,  their  agricultural  genius,  their  noble  and  command- 
ing forms  of  person,  and  being  less  "  addicted  to  war,"  shows 
them,  it  would  seem,  exclusively  of  other  origin,  than  that  of  the 
common  Indians. 

It  is  supposed,  the  inhabitants  who  found  their  way  first  to  this 
country,  after  the  earths  division,  in  the  days  of  Peleg,  and  were 
here  long  before  the  modern  Indians,  came  not  by  the  way  of 
Bhering's  strait  from  Kamtschatka,  in  Asia,  but  directly  from 
China  across  the  Pacific,  to  the  western  coast  of  America,  by 
means  of  islands  which  abounded  anciently  in  that  ocean  between 
Chinese  Tartary,  China,  and  South  America,  even  more  than  at 
present,  which   are,  however,  now  very  numerous;  and  also  by 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST-  55 

the  means  of  vessels,  of  which  all  mankind  have  always  had  a 
knowledge.  In  this  way,  without  any  difficulty,  more  than  is 
common,  they  could  have  found  their  way  to  this,  as  men  have 
to  every  part  of  the  earth. 

We  do  not  recollect  that  any  of  those  peculiar  monuments  of 
antiquity  appear  north  of  the  United  States.  Mackenzie,  in  his 
overland  journey  to  the  Pacific,  travelling  northwest  from  Mon- 
treal, in  Canada,  does  not  mention  a  single  vestige  of  the  kind, 
nor  does  Carver.  If,  then,  there  are  none  of  these  peculiar  kinds, 
such  as  the  mounds,  farther  north  than  about  the  latitude  of  the 
Canadas,  it  would  appear  from  this,  that  the  first  authors  of  these 
works,  especially  of  the  mounds,  and  tumuli,  migrated,  not  from 
Asia,  by  way  of  Bhering's  strait,  but  from  Europe,  east — China, 
west — and  from  Africa,  south — continents  now  separated,  then 
touching  each  other,  with  islands  innumerable  besides,  affording 
the  means. 

If  this  supposition,  namely,  that  the  continents  in  the  first  ages 
immediately  after  the  flood,  were  united,  is  not  allowed,  how,  then, 
it  might  be  inquired,  came  every  country  yet  discovered,  of  any 
size,  having  the  natural  means  of  human  subsistence,  to  be  found 
inhabited  ? 

In  the  very  way  this  can  be  answered,  the  question  relative  to 
the  means  by  which  South  America  was  first  peopled,  can  also  be 
answered,  namely  ;  the  continents,  as  intimated  on  the  first  pages 
of  this  work,  as  quoted  from  Dr.  Clarke,  were,  at  first,  that  is, 
immediately  after  the  flood,  till  the  division  of  the  earth,  in  the 
days  of  Peleg,  connected  together,  so  that  mankind,  with  all  kinds 
of  animals,  might  pass  to  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  suited  to 
their  natures.  If  such  were  not  the  fact,  how  then  did  the  seve- 
ral kinds  of  animals  get  to  every  part  of  the  earth  from  the  ark  ? 
They  could  not,  as  man,  make  use  of  the  boat,  or  vessel,  nor 
could  they  swim  such  distances. 

From  Dr.  Clarke's  Travel's  it  appears,  ancient  works  exist  to 
this  day,  in  some  parts  of  Asia,  similar  to  those  of  North  Ame- 
rica. His  description  of  them,  reads  as  though  he  were  contem- 
plating some  of  these  western  mounds.  The  Russians  call  these 
sepulchres  logri;  and  vast  numbers  of  them  have  been  discovered 
in  Siberia  and  the  deserts  bordering  on  the  empire  to  the  south. 
Historians  mention  these  tumuli,  with  many  particulars.     In  them 


56  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

were  found  vessels,  ornaments,  trinkets,  medals,  arrows,  and  oth- 
er articles;  some  of  copper,  and  even  gold  and  silver,  mingled 
with  the  ashes  and  remains  of  dead  bodies. 

When,  and  by  whom,  these  burying  places  of  Siberia  and  Tar- 
tary,  more  ancient  than  the  Tartars  themselves,  were  used,  is  ex- 
ceedingly interesting.  The  situation,  construction,  appearance, 
and  general  contents  of  these  Asiatic  tumuli,  and  the  American 
mounds,  are  however,  so  nearly  alike,  that  there  can  be  no  hesi- 
tation in  ascribing  them  to  the  same  races,  in  Europe,  Asia,  Afri- 
ca, and  America;  and  also  to  the  same  ages  of  time,  or  nearly  so, 
which  we  suppose,  was  very  soon  after  the  flood;  a  knowledge  of 
mound  building  was  then  among  men,  as  we  see  in  the  authors  of 
Babel. 

"  The  triune  cup  (see  plate,  letter  E.,)  deposited  in  one  of  the 
museums  at  Cincinnati,  affords  some  probable  evidence,  that  a 
part,  at  least,  of  the  great  mass  of  human  population,  once  inhabit- 
ing the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  were  of  Hindoo  origin.  It  is  an 
earthen  vessel,  perfectly  round,  and  will  hold  a  quart,  having 
three  distinct  faces,  or  heads,  joined  together  at  the  back  part  of 
each,  by  a  handle.  The  faces  of  these  figures  strongly  resemble 
the  Hindoo  countenance,  which  is  here  well  executed.  Now,  it 
is  well  known,  that  in  the  mythology  of  India,  three  chief  gods 
constitute  the  acknowledged  belief  of  that  people  named  Brahma? 
Vishnoo,  and  Siva.  May  not  this  cup  be  a  symbolical  represen- 
tation of  that  belief, rand  may  it  not  have  been  used  for  some  sa- 
cred purpose,  here,  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi?  In  this  coun- 
try, as  in  Asia,  the  mounds  arc  seen  at  the  junction  of  many  of 
the  rivers,  as  along  the  Mississippi,  on  the  most  eligible  positions 
for  towns,  and  in  the  richest  lands:  and  the  day  may  have  been, 
when  those  great  rivers,  the  Mississippi,  the  Ohio,  the  Illinois, 
and  the  Muskingum,  beheld  along  their  sacred  banks,  countless 
devotees  assembled  for  religious  rites,  such  as  note  crowd  in  su- 
perstitious ceremonies,  the  devoted  and  consecrated  borders  of 
the  Indus,  the  Ganges,  and  the  Burrampooter,  rivers  of  the  Indies,. 
Mounds  in  the  west  are  very  numerous,  amounting  to  several 
thousand,  none  less  than  ten  feet  high,  and  some  over  one  hun- 
dred. One  opposite  St.  Louis  measures  eight  hundred  yards  in 
circumference  at  its  base,  which  is  fifty  rods.  Sometimes  they 
stand  in  groups,  and  with  their  circular  shapes,  at  a  distance  look 


AND    DISCOVERIS    IN    THE    WEST.  57 

like  enormous  hay  stacks,  scattered  through  a  meadow.  Front 
their  great  number,  and  occasional  stupendous  size,  years  and  the 
labors  of  tens  of  thousands  must  have  been  required  to  finish 
them. 

Were  it  not,  indeed,  for  their  contents,  and  design  manifested 
in  their  erection,  they  would  hardly  be  looked  upon  as  the  work 
of  human  hands.  In  this  view,  they  strike  the  traveller  with  the 
game  astonishment  as  would  be  felt  while  beholding  those  oldest 
monuments  of  wordly  art  and  industry,  the  Egyptian  pyramids; 
and  like  them  the  mounds  have  their  origin  in  the  dark  night  of 
time,  beyond  even  the  history  of  Egypt  itself.  Whether  or  not 
these  mounds  were  used  at  some  former  period,  as  "  high  places" 
for  purposes  of  religion,  or  fortifications,  or  for  national  burying 
places,  each  of  which  theories  has  found  advocates,  one  infer- 
ence, however,  amidst  all  the  gloom  which  surrounds  them,  re- 
mans certain:  the  valley  of  the  Ohio,  was  once  inhabited  by  an 
immense  agricultural  population.  We  can  see  their  vast  funeral 
vaults,  enter  into  their  graves.,  and  look  at  their  dry  bones;  but  no 
passage  of  history  tells  their  tale  of  life;  no  spirit  comes  forth 
from  their  ancient  sepulchres,  to  answer  the  inquiries  of  the  living. 
It  is  worthy  of  remark,  that  Breckenridge,  in  his  interesting  tra- 
vels through  these  regions,  calculates  that  no  less  than  five  thou- 
sands villages  of  this  forgotten  people  existed;  and  that  their  lar- 
gest city  was  situated  between  the  Mississippi  and  Missouri,  not 
far  from  the  junction  of  those  rivers,  near  St.  Louis,  In  this  re- 
gion, the  mighty  waters  of  the  Missouri  and  Illinois,  with  their 
unnumbered  tributaries,  mingle  with  the  "  father  of  rivers,"  the 
Mississippi;  (Mississippi,  the  word  in  the  Indian  language  means 
Father  of  Rivers;)  a  situation  formed  by  nature,  calculated  to  in- 
vite multitudes  of  men,  from  the  goodness  of  the  soil,  and  the  fa- 
cilities of  water  communications. 

The  present  race,  who  are  now  fast  peopling  the  unbounded 
west,  are  apprised  of  the  advantages  of  this  region.  Towns  and 
cities  are  rising  on  the  very  ground  where  the  ancient  millions  of 
mankind  had  their  seats  of  empire.  Ohio  now  contains  more  than 
six  hundred  thousand  inhabitants;  but  at  that  early  day,  the  same 
extent  of  country,  most  probably,  was  filled  with  a  far  greater 
population  than  inhabits  it  at  the  present  time.  Many  of  the 
mounds  are  completely  occupied  with  human  skeletons,  and  mil- 


58  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

lions  of  them  must  have  heen  interred  in  these  vast  cemeteries, 
that  can  be  traced  from  the  Rocky  mountains,  on  the  west, 
to  the  Alleghenies  on  the  east,  and  into  the  province  of  the  Texas 
and  New  Mexico  to  the  south:  revolutions  like  those  known  in 
the  old  world  may  have  taken  place  here,  and  armies,  equal  to 
those  of  Cyrus,  of  Alexander  the  Great,  or  of  Tamerlane,  the 
powerful,  might  have  flourished  their  trumpets,  and  marched  to 
battle,  over  these  extensive  plains,  filled  with  the  probable  de- 
scendants of  that  same  race  in  Asia, whom  these  proud  conquerors 
vanquished  there." 


Course  of  the   Ten  Lost  Tribes  of  Israel. 

There  is  a  strong  resemblance  between  the  northern  and  inde- 
pendent Tartar,  and  the  tribes  of  the  North  American  Indians,  but 
not  of  the  South  American.  Besides  this  reason,  there  are  others 
for  believing  our  aborigines  of  North  America  were  descended 
from  the  ancient  Scythians,  and  came  to  this  country  from  the 
eastern  part  of  Asia. 

This  view  by  no  means  invalidates  the  opinion  that  some  tribes 
of  the  Indians  of  North  America  are  descendants  of  the  Israelites, 
because  the  Scythians,  under  this  particular  name,  existed  long 
before  that  branch  of  the  family  of  Shem,  called  Israelites;  who, 
after  they  had  been  carried  away  by  Salmanasser,  the  Assyrian 
king,  about  700  years  B.  C,  went  northward,  as  stated  by  Esdras, 
(see  his  second  book,  thirteenth  chapter,  from  verse  40  to  verse 
45,  inclusive,)  through  a  part  of  Independent  Tartary.  During 
this  journey,  which  carried  them  among  the  Tartars,  noio  so  call- 
ed, but  were  anciently  the  Scythians,  and  probably  became  amal- 
gamated with  them.  This  was  the  more  easily  effected,  on  account 
of  the  agreement  of  complexion  and  common  origin.  If  this  may 
be  supposed,  we  perceive  at  once,  how  the  North  American  In- 
dians are  in  possession  of  both  Scythian  and  Jewish  practices. 
Their  Scythian  customs  are  as  follows: — "  Scalping  their  prison- 
ers, and  torturing  them  to  death.    Some  of  the  Indian  nations  also 


AND  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  59 

resemble  the  Tartars  in  the  construction  of  their  canoes,  imple- 
ments of  war,  and  of  the  chase,  with  the  well  known  habit  of 
marching  in  Indian  file,  and  their  treatment  of  the  aged;"  these 
are  Scythian  customs. 

Their  Jewish  customs  are  too  many  to  be  enumerated  in  this 
work;  for  a  particular  account  of  those  customs,  see  Smith's  View 
of  the  Hebrews.  If,  then,  our  Indians  have  evidently  the  man- 
ners of  both  the  Scythian  and  the  Jew,  it  proves  them  to  have 
been,  anciently,  both  Israelites  and  Scythians;  the  latter  being  the 
more  ancient  name  of  the  nations  now  called  Tartars,*  with  whom 
the  ten  tribes  may  have  amalgamated.  That  the  Israelites,  called 
the  ten  tribes, who  were  carried  away  from  Judea  by  Salmanasser 
to  the  land  of  Assyria,  went  from  that  country  in  a  northerly  di- 
rection, as  quoted  from  Esdras,  above,  is  evident,  from  the  Map 
of  Asia.  Look  at  Esdras  again,  43d  verse,  chap.  13,  and  we 
shall  perceive,  they  "  entered  into  the  Euphrates  by  the  narrow 
passes  or  heads  of  that  river,"  which  runs  from  the  north  into  the 
Persian  gulf. 

It  is  not  probable  that  the  country  which  Esdras  called  Arsareth 
could  possibly  be  America,  as  many  have  supposed,  because  a  vast 
company,  such  as  the  ten  tribes  were  at  the  time  they  left  Syria, 
(which  was  about  one  hundred  years  after  their  having  been  car- 
ried away  from  Judea,  nearly  3000  years  ago,)  could  travel  fast 
enough  to  perform  the  journey  in  so  short  a  time  as  a  year  and 
a  half. 

We  learn  from  the  map  of  Asia,  that  Syria  was  situated  at  the 
southeasterly  end  of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  and  that  in  entering 
into  the  narrow  passes  of  the  Euphrates,  as  Esdras  says,  would 
lead  them  north  of  Mount  Ararat,  and  southeasterly  of  the  Black 
sea,  through  Georgia,  over  the  Caucassian  mountains,  and  so  on 
to  Astracan,  which  lies  north  of  the  Caspian  sea.  We  may,  with 
the  utmost  show  of  reason,  be  permitted  to  argue,  that  this  vast 
company  of  men,  women,  and  ther  little  ones,  would  naturally  be 
compelled  to  shape  their  course  so  as  to  avoid  the  deep  rivers, 
which  it  cannot  well  be  supposed  they  had  the  means  of  crossing, 
except  when  frozen.  Their  course  would  then  be  along  the  heads 
of  the  several  rivers  running  north,  after  they  had  passed  the  coun- 

*  The  appellation  of  Tartar  was  not  known  till  the  year  A.  D.  1227,  who 
were  at  that  time  considered  a  new  race  of  barbarians. — Morse. 


60  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

try  of  Astracan.  From  thence  over  the  Ural  mountains,  or  that 
part  of  that  chain  running  along  Independent  Tartary.  Thenr 
after  having  passed  over  this  mountain  near  the  northern  boundary 
of  Independent  Tartary,  they  would  find  themselves  at  the  foot  of 
the  little  Altain  mountains,  which  course  would  lead  them,  if 
they  still  wished  to  avoid  deep  and  rapid  rivers,  running  from 
the  little  Altain  mountains  northward,  or  northwesterly,  into  the 
Northern  ocean,  across  the  immense  and  frozen  regions  of  Sibe- 
ria!. The  names  of  those  rivers  beginning  on  the  easterly  side  of 
the  Ural  mountains,  are  first,  the  river  Obi,  with  its  many  heads, 
or  little  rivers,  forming  at  length  the  river  Obi,  which  empties  into 
the  Northern  ocean,  at  the  gulf  of  Obi,  in  latitude  of  about  67  de- 
grees north. 

The  second  is  the  river  Yenisei,  with  its  many  heads,  having 
their  sources  in  the  same  chain  of  mountains,  and  runs  into  the 
same  ocean,  further  north,  towards  Bhering's  straits,  which  is  the 
point  we  are  approximating,  by  pursuing  this  course. 

A  third  river,  with  its  many  heads,  that  rises  at  the  base  of  an- 
other chain  of  mountains,  called  the  Yablonoy,  or  Lena. 

There  are  several  other  rivers,  arising  out  of  another  chain  of 
mountains,  farther  on  northward  towards  Bhering's  straita,  which 
have  no  name  on  the  map  of  Asia;  this  range  of  mountains  is 
called  the  St.  Anovoya  mountains,  and  comes  to  a  point,  or  end, 
at  the  strait  which  separates  Asia  from  America,  which  is  but  a 
small  distance  across,  about  forty  miles  only,  and  several  islands 
between. 

Allowing  the  ten  tribes,  or  if  they  may  have  become  amalga- 
mated with  the  Tartars  as  they  passed  on  this  tremendous  journey 
toward  the  Northern  ocean,  to  have  pursued  this  course,  the  dis- 
tance will  appear  from  Assyria  to  the  straits,  to  be  six  thousand, 
two  hundred  and  fifty-five  miles — more,  by  nearly  one-half,  than 
such  a  vast  body,  in  moving  on  together,  could  possibly  perform 
in  a  year  and  a  half.  Six  miles  a  day  would  be  as  great  a  dis- 
tance as  such  a  host  could  perform,  where  there  is  no  way  but 
that  of  forests  untraced  by  man,  and  obstructed  by  swamps, 
mountains,  fallen  trees,  and  thousands  of  nameless  hindrances. 
Food  must  be  had,  and  the  only  way  of  procuring  it  must  have 
been  by  hunting  with  the  bow  and  arrow,  and  by  fishing.  The 
sick  must  not  be  forsaken,  the  aged  and  the  infant  must  be  cher- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  61 

shed;  all  these  things  would  delay,  so  that  a  rapid  progress  can- 
lot  be  admitted. 

If,  then,  six  miles  a  day  is  a  reasonable  distance  to  suppose 
;hey  may  have  progressed,  it  follows  that  nearly  three  years,  in- 
stead of  a  year  and  a  half,  would  not  have  been  more  than  suffi- 
cient to  carry  them  from  Syria  to  Bhering's  straits,  through  a  re- 
gion almost  of  eternal  snow. 

This,  therefore,  cannot  have  been  the  course  of  the  Ten  Tribes 
,o  the  land  of  Asareth,  wherever  it  was;  and,  that  it  was  north 
from  Syria,  we  ascertain  by  Esdras,  who  says  they  went  into  the 
narrow  passes  of  the  Euphrates,  which  means  its  three  heads,  or 
branches,  which  arise  north  from  Syria.  From  the  head  waters 
Df  this  river,  there  is  no  way  to  pass  on,  but  to  go  between  the 
Black  and  Caspian  seas,  over  the  Caucassian  mountains,  as  be- 
fore stated. 

From  this  point,  they  may  have  gone  on  to  what  is  now  called 
Astracan,  as  before  rehearsed;  but  here  we  suppose  they  may  have 
taken  a  west  instead  of  a  north  direction,  which  would  have  been 
toward  that  part  of  Russia,  which  is  now  called  Russia  in  Europe, 
and  would  have  led  them  on  between  the  rivers  Don  and  Volga; 
the  Don  emptying  into  the  Black  sea,  and  the  Volga  into  the 
Caspian. 

This  course  would  have  led  them  exactly  to  the  places  where 
Moscow  and  Petersburg  now  stand,  and  from  thence,  in  a  north- 
westerly direction,  along  the  south  end  of  the  White  sea,  to  Lap- 
land, Norivay  and  Sweden,  which  lie  along  the  coast  of  the  North 
Atlantic  ocean. 

Now,  the  distance  from  Syria  to  Lapland,  Norway,  and  Swe- 
den, on  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic,  is  scarcely  three  thousand  miles; 
a  distance  which  may  have  easily  been  travelled  in  a  year  and  a 
half,  at  six  miles  a  day,  and  the  same  opportunity  have  been  af- 
forded for  their  amalgamation  with  Scythians  or  Tartars,  as  in 
the  other  course,  towards  Bhering's  strait.  Norway,  Sweden, 
and  Lapland  may  have  been  the  land  of  Arsareth. 

But  here  arises  a  question;  how,  then,  did  they  get  into  America 
from  Lapland  and  Norway  ?  The  only  answer  is,  America  and 
Europe  must  have  been  at  that  time  united  by  land,  or  they  may 
have  built  boats. 

The  manner  by  which  the  original   inhabitants  and  animals 


62  AMERICAN    ANTIQI  iTIES 

reached  here,  is  easily  explained,  by  adopting  the  supposition, 
which,  doubtless,  is  the  most  correct,  that  the  northwestern  and 
western  limits  of  America  were,  at  some  former  period,  united  to 
Asia  on  the  ivest,  and  to  Europe  on  the  east. 

This  was  partly  the  opinion  of  Buffon,  and  other  great  natu- 
ralists. That  connection  has,  therefore,  been  destroyed,  among 
other  great  changes  this  earth  has  evidently  experienced  since  the 
flood. 

We  have  examples  of  these  revolutions  before  our  eyes.  Flo- 
rida has  gained  leagues  of  land  from  the  gulf  of  Mexico;  and  part 
of  Louisiana,  in  the  Mississippi  valley,  has  been  formed  by  the 
mud  of  rivers.  Since  the  Falls  of  Niagara  were  first  discovered, 
they  have  receded  very  considerably;  and  it  is  conjectured,  that 
this  sublimest  of  nature's  curiosities  was  situated  originally  where 
Queenstown  now  stands. 

Sicily  was  united  formerly  to  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  an- 
cient authors  affirm,  that  the  straits  of  Gibraltar,  which  divide 
between  Europe  and  Africa,  were  formed  by  a  violent  irruption 
of  the  ocean  upon  the  land.  Ceylon,  where  our  missionaries  have 
an  establishment,  has  lost  forty  leagues  by  the  sea,  which  is  one 
hundred  and  twenty  miles. 

Many  such  instances  occur  in  history.  Pliny  tells  us,  that  in 
his  own  time,  the  mountain  Cymbotus,  with  the  town  of  Eurites, 
which  stood  on  its  side,  were  totally  swallowed  up.  He  records 
the  like  of  the  city  Tantelis,  in  Magnesia,  and  of  the  mountain 
Sopelus,  both  absorbed  by  a  violent  opening  of  the  earth,  so  that 
no  trace  of  either  remained.  Galanis  and  Garnatus,  towns  once 
famous  in  Phoenicia,  are  recorded  to  have  met  the  same  fate.  The 
vast  promontory,  called  Phlegium,  in  Ethiopia,  after  a  violent 
earthquake  in  the  night,  was  not  to  be  seen  in  the  morning,  the 
earth  having  swallowed  it  up,  and  closed  over  it. 

Like  instances  we  have  of  later  date.  The  mountain  Picus,  in 
one  of  the  Moluccas,  was  so  high  that  it  appeared  at  a  vast  dis- 
tance, and  served  as  a  landmark  to  sailors.  But  during  an  earth- 
quake in  the  isle,  the  mountain  in  an  instant  sunk  into  the  bowels 
of  the  earth,  and  no  token  of  it  remained.  The  like  happened  in 
the  mountainous  parts  of  China,  in  1556,  when  a  whole  province, 
with  all  its  towns,  cities  and  inhabitants,  was  absorbed  in  a  rno- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  63 

ment ;  an  immense  lake  of  water  remaining  in  its  place,  even  to 
this  clay. 

In  the  year  1646,  during  a  terrible  earthquake  in  the  kingdom 
of  Chili,  several  whole  mountains  of  the  Andes,  one  after  another, 
were  wholly  absorbed  in  the  earth.  Probably  many  lakes,  over 
the  whole  earth,  have  been  occasioned  in  this  way.  Lake  Ontario 
is  supposed  to  have  been  formed  in  this  way. 

The  greatest  earthquake  we  find  in  antiquity,  is  that  mentioned 
by  Pliny,  in  which  twelve  cities  in  Asia  Minor  were  swallowed 
up  in  one  night.  But  one  of  those  most  particularly  described  in 
history,  is  that  of  the  year  1693.  It  extended  to  a  circumference 
of  two  thousand  six  hundred  leagues,  chiefly  affecting  the  sea 
coasts  and  great  rivers.  Its  motions  were  so  rapid,  that  those 
who  lay  at  their  length  were  tossed  from  side  to  side,  as  upon  a 
rolling  billow.  The  walls  were  dashed  from  their  foundations, 
and  no  less  than  lifty-four  cities,  with  an  incredible  number  of 
villages,  were  either  destroyed  or  greatly  damaged.  The  city  of 
Catanea,  in  particular,  was  utterly  overthrown.  A  traveller,  who 
was  on  his  way  thither,  at  the  distance  of  some  miles,  perceived  a 
black  cloud  hanging  near  the  place.  The  sea  all  of  a  sudden 
began  to  roar — Mount  iEtna  to  send  forth  great  spires  of  flames; 
and  soon  after,  a  shock  ensued,  with  a  noise  as  if  all  the  artillery 
in  the  world  had  been  at  once  discharged.  Although  the  shock 
did  not  continue  above  three  minutes,  yet  near  nineteen  thousand 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Sicily  perished  in  the  ruins. 

We  have  said  above,  that  Norway,  Lapland,  and  Sweden, 
may  have  been  the  very  land  called  the  land  of  Arsareth,  by  Es- 
dras,  in  his  second  book,  chapter  thirteenth,  who  may,  with  the 
utmost  certainty,  be  supposed  to  know  the  very  course  and  place 
where  these  Ten  Tribes  went  to,  being  himself  a  Jew  and  a  his- 
torian, who  at  the  present  day  is  quoted  by  the  first  authors  of  the 
age. 

We  have  also  said,  it  should  be  considered  impossible  for  the 
Ten  Tribes,  after  having  left  the  place  of  their  captivity,  at  the 
east  end  of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  which  was  the  Syrian  coun- 
try, for  them  to  have  gone  in  a  year  and  a  half  to  Bhering's  strait, 
through  the  frozen  wilderness  of  Siberia. 

In  going  away  from  Syria,  they  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  had 
any  place  in  view,  only  they  had  conferred  among  themselves  that, 


64  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

as  Esdras  says,  "  they  would  leave  the  multitude  of  the  heathen, 
and  go  forth  into  a  country  where  never  mankind  dwelt;"  which 
Esdras  called  the  land  of  Arsareth. 

Now,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed,  a  land  or  country  where  no  man 
dwelt  could  have  a  name,  especially  in  that  early  age  of  the  world, 
which  was  about  seven  hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era: 
but  on  that  very  account,  we  may  suppose  the  word  Arsareth  to  be 
descriptive  only  of  a  vast  wilderness  country, where  no  man  dwelt, 
and  is  probably  a  Persian  word  of  that  signification,  for  Syria  was 
embraced  within  the  Persian  empire:  the  Israelites  may  have,  in 
part,  lost  their  original  language,  having  been  there  in  a  state  of 
captivity  for  more  than  one  hundred  years  before  they  left  that 
country. 

Esdras  says  that  Arsareth  was  a  land  where  no  man  dwelt;  this 
statement  is  somewhat  corroborated  by  the  fact,  that  the  country 
which  we  have  supposed  was  Arsareth,  namely,  Norway,  &c, 
was  anciently  unknown  to  mankind.  On  this  point,  see  Morse's 
Geography,  vol.  2,  p.  28: 

"Norway — A  region  almost  as  unknown  to  the  ancients  as  was 
America." 

But  in  this  he  is  mistaken,  as  will  appear  by  and  by,  in  the 
course  of  this  work.     America  was  known  to  the  ancients. 

Its  almost  insular  situation,  iraving  on  the  west  the  Atlantic 
ocean,  on  the  south  end  the  North  sea,  and  on  the  east  the  Baltic 
and  the  gulf  of  Bothnia — these  waters  almost  surrounding  it — 
there  being  a  narrow  connexion  of  land  with  the  European  conti- 
nent only  on  the  north,  between  the  gulf  of  Bothnia  and  the 
White  sea,  which  is  Lapland,  and  was  a  reason  quite  sufficient 
why  the  ancients  should  have  had  no  knowledge  of  that  region  of 
country. 

Naturalists,  as  before  remarked,  have  supposed  that  America 
was,  at  some  remote  period  before  the  Christian  era,  united  to  the 
continent  of  Europe;  and  that  convulsions,  such  as  earthquakes, 
volcanos,  and  the  irruptions  of  the  ocean,  has  shaken  and  over- 
whelmed a  whole  region  of  earth,  lying  between  Norway  and 
Baffin's  bay,  of  which  Greenland  and  Iceland,  with  many  other 
islands,  are  the  remains. 

But  suppose  the  American  and  European  continents,  seven  hun- 
dred years  before  the  Christian  era,  were  not  united;  how,  then, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  65 

did  such  part  of  the  Ten  Tribes  as  may  have  wandered  to  that 
region  from  Syria,  get  into  America  from  Norway?  The  answer 
is  easy:  they  may  have  crossed  over,  from  island  to  island,  in 
vessels  or  boats,  for  a  knowledge  of  navigation,  and  that  of  the 
ocean  too,  was  known  to  the  Ten  Tribes;  for  all  the  Jews  and 
civilized  nations  of  that  age  were  acquainted  with  this  art,  derived 
from  the  Egyptians. 

But  it  may  be  said,  there  are  no  traces  that  the  Jews  were  ever 
residents  of  Norway,  Lapland,  or  Scandinavia.  From  the  par- 
ticular shape  of  Norway,  being  surrounded  by  the  waters  of  the 
sea,  except  between  the  gulf  of  Bothnia  and  the  White  sea,  we 
perceive  that  the  first  people,  whoever  they  were,  must  have  ap- 
proached it  by  the  narrow  pass  between  those  two  bodies  of  water, 
of  only  about  forty-five  miles  in  width,  if  they  would  go  there  by 
land. 

Consequently,  the  place  now  designated  by  the  name  of  Lap- 
land, which  is  the  northern  end  of  Norway,  was  first  peopled 
before  the  more  southern  parts.  An  inquiry,  therefore,  whether 
the  ancient  people  of  Lapland  had  any  customs  like  those  of  th© 
ancient  Jews,  would  be  pertinent  to  our  hypothesis  respecting  the 
route  of  the  Ten  Tribes,  as  spoken  of  by  Esdras.  Morse,  the 
geographer,  says,  that  of  the  original  population  of  Lapland  very 
little  is  known  with  certainty.  Some  writers  have  supposed  them 
to  be  a  colony  of  Fins  from  Russia;  others  have  thought  that  they 
bore  a  stronger  resemblance  to  the  Semoeids  of  Asia.  Their  lan- 
guage, however,  is  said  by  Leems  to  have  less  similitude  to  the 
Finnish,  than  the  Danish  to  the  German,  and  to  be  totally  un- 
like any  of  the  dialects  of  the  Teutonic,  or  ancestors  of  the 
ancient  Germans.  But  according  to  Leems,  as  quoted  by  Morse, 
in  their  language  are  found  many  Hebrew  words;  also,  Greek 
and  Latin. 

Hebrew  words  are  found  among  the  American  Indians,  in  con- 
siderable variety.  But  how  came  Greek  and  Latin  words  to  be 
in  the  composition  of  the  Laponic  language1? 

This  is  easily  answered,  if  we  suppose  them  to  be  derived  from 
the  Ten  Tribes;  as,  at  the  time  they  left  Syria,  the  Greek  and 
Latin  were  languages  spoken  every  where  in  that  region,  as  well 
■as  the  Syrian  and  Chaldean.  And  on  this  very  account,  it  is 
likely  the  Ten  Tribes  had  in  part  lost  their  ancient  language,  as 

5 


66  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

it  was  spoken  at  Jerusalem, when  Salmanasser  carried  them  awayv. 
So  that  by  the  time  they  left  Syria,  and  the  region  thereabouts,to 
go  to  Arsareth,  their  language  had  become,  from  this  sort  of  mix- 
ture, an  entire  new  language,  as  they  had  been  enslaved  about 
one  hundred  years. 

So  that,  allowing  the  ancient  Laplanders  to  have  derived  their 
tongue  from  a  part  of  these  ten  wandering  tribes,  it  well  might  be 
said  by  Leems,  as  quoted  by  Morse,  that  the  language  of  Lap- 
land, commonly  called  the  Laponic,  had  no  xoords  in  common  with 
th  Gothic,  or  Teutonic,  except  a  few  Norwegian  words,  evi- 
dently foreign,  and  unassociated  with  any  of  the  languages  of 
Asia  or  Europe;  these  being  of  the  Teutonic,  or  German  origin, 
which  goes  back  to  within  five  hundred  years  of  the  flood,  seve- 
ral centuries  before  the  Ten  Tribes  were  carried  away  by  Salma- 
nasser. 

This  view  would  seem  to  favor  our  hypothesis.  We  shall  now 
show  a  few  particulars  respecting  their  religious  notions,  which 
seem  to  have,  in  some  respects,  a  resemblance  to  those  of  the 
Jews.     Their  deities  were  of  four  kinds  : 

1st.  Super-celestial,  named  as  follows:  Radien,  Atzihe,  and 
Kiedde,  the  Creator.  Radien  and  Atzihe  they  considered  the 
fountain  of  all  power,  and  Kiedde,  or  Radien  Kiedde,  the  Son,  or 
Creator.  These  were  their  supreme  gods,  and  would  seem  to  be 
borrowed  from  the  Jewish  doctrine  of  the  Trinity. 

2d.  Celestial,  called  Behoe,  the  Sun,  or  as  other  ancient  nations 
had  it,  Apollo,  which  is  the  same,  and  Ailekies,  to  whom  Satur- 
day was  consecrated.  May  not  these  two  powers  be  considered 
as  the  shadows  of  the  different  orders  of  angels,  as  held  by  the 
Jews  ? 

3d.  Sub-celestial,  or  in  the  air  and  on  the  earth.  Moderakka, 
or  the  Lapland  Lucina  ;  Saderakka,  or  Venus,  to  whom  Friday 
was  holy;  and  Juks  Akka,  or  the  Nurse.  These  are  of  heathen 
origin,  derived  from  the  nations  among  whom  they  had  been 
slaves  and  wanderers,  the  Syrians. 

4th.  Sub-terranean,  as  Saiwo,  and  Saiwo-Olmak,  gods  of  the 
mountains;  Saiwo-Guelle,  or  their  Mercury,  who  conducted  the 
shades,  or  wicked  souls,  to  the  lower  regions. 

This  idea  would  seem  to  be  equivalent  with  the  doctrine  found 
in  both  the  Jewish  and  Christian  religions,  namely,  that  Satan 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  .     67 

conducts  or  receives  the  souls  of  the  wicked  to  his  hell,,  in  the 
subterranean  fire  of  the  earth. 

They  have  another  deity,  belonging  to  the  fourth  order;  and 
him  they  call  Jabme-Akko,  or  he  who  occupied  their  Elysium;  in« 
which  the  soul  was  furnished  with  a  new  body,  and  nobler  privi- 
leges, and  powers,  and  entitled,  at  some  future  day,  to  enjoy  the 
light  of  Radien,  the  fountain  of  power,  and  to  dwell  with  him  for- 
ever in  the  mansions  of  bliss. 

This  last  sentiment  is  certainly  equivalent  to  the  Jewish  idea  of 
heaven  and  eternal  happiness  in  Abraham's  bosom.  It  also,  un- 
der the  idea  of  a  netv  body,  shows  a  relation  to  the  Jewish  and 
Christian  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  at  the  last  day; 
and  is  indeed  wonderful. 

5th.  An  infernal  deity,  called  Rota,  who  occupied  and  reigned 
in  Rota-Abimo,  or  the  infernal  regions;  the  occupants  of  which, 
had  no  hopes  of  escape.  He,  together  with  his  subordinates, 
Fudno,  Mubber,  and  Paha-Engel,  were  all  considered  as  evil  dis- 
posed towards  mankind. 

This  is  too  plain  not  to  be  applied  to  the  Bible  doctrine  of  one 
supreme  devil  and  his  angels,  who  are,  sure  enough,  evil  disposed 
towards  mankind. 

Added  to  all  this,  the  Laplanders  were  found  in  the  practice  of 
sacrificing  to  all  their  deities,  the  rein-deer,  the  sheep,  and  some- 
times»the  seal,  pouring  libations  of  milk,  whey,  and  brandy,  with 
offerings  of  cheese,  &c. 

This  last  item  of  their  religious  manners  is  too  striking  not  to 
claim  its  derivation  from  the  ancient  Jewish  worship.  The  Lap- 
landers are  a  people  but  few  in  number,  not  much  exceeding 
twelve  hundred  families  ;  which  we  imagine  is  a  circumstance 
favoring  our  idea,  that  after  they  had  remained  a  while  in  Ar- 
sareth,  or  Lapland  and  Norway,  which  is  much  the  same  thing, 
that  their  main  body  may  have  passed  over  into  America,  either 
in  boats,  from  island  to  island;  or,  if  there  then  was,  as  is  sup- 
posed, an  isthmus  of  land,  connecting  the  continents,  they  passed 
over  on  that,  leaving,  as  is  natural,  in  case  of  such  a  migra- 
tion, some  individuals  or  families  behind,  who  might  not  wish 
to  accompany  them,  from  whom  the  present  race  of  Laplanders 
may  be  derived.  Their  dress  is  much  the  same  with  that  of  our 
Indians  ;  their  complexion  is  swarthy,  black  hair,  large  heads*, 

6* 


68  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

high  cheek  bones,  with  wide  mouths;  all  of  which  is  strikingly 
national.  They  call  themselves  Same,  their  speech  Same-giel, 
and  their  country  Same-Edna.  This  last  word  sounds  very  much 
like  the  word  Eden,  and  may  be,  inasmuch  as  it  is  the  name  of 
of  their  country,  borrowed  from  the  name  of  the  region  where 
Adam  was  created. 

"When  men  emigrate  from  one  region  of  the  earth  to  another, 
which  is  very  distant,  and  especially  if  the  country  to  which  they 
emigrate  is  a  new  one,  or  in  a  state  of  nature,  it  is  perfectly  natu- 
ral to  give  it  the  same  name  or  names  which  distinguished  the 
country  and  its  parts,  from  which  they  emigrated. 

Edessa  was  the  name  of  an  ancient  city  of  Mesopotamia,which 
was  situated  in  the  country  or  land  of  Assyria,  between  the  rivers 
Euphrates  and  Tigris.  In  this  region  the  Ten  Tribes  were  held 
in  bondage,  who  had  been  carried  away  by  Salmanasser,  the  As- 
syrian monarch.  We  are,  therefore,  the  more  confirmed  in  this 
conjecture,  from  the  similarity  existing  between  the  two  names, 
Edna  and  Edessa,  both  derived,  it  is  likely,  from  the  more  an- 
cient word  Eden,  which,  from  common  consent,  had  its  situation, 
before  the  deluge,  not  far  from  the  same  region  where  Turkey  is 
now,  between  the  Mediterranern,  Black,  and  Caspian^seas,  and 
the  Persian  gulf,  as  before  argued. 

If  such  may  have  been  the  fact,  that  a  part  of  the  Ten  Tribes 
eame  over  to  America,  in  the  way  we  have  supposed,  leaving  the 
cold  regions  of  Arsareth  behind  them,  in  quest  of  a  milder  climate, 
it  would  be  natural  to  look  for  tokens  of  the  presence  of  Jews,  of 
some  sort,  along  countries  adjacent  to  the  Atlantic.  In  order  to 
this,  we  shall  here  make  an  extract  from  an  able  work,  written 
exclusively  on  the  subject  of  the  Ten  Tribes'  having  come  from 
Asia  by  the  way  of  Bhering's  strait,  by  the  Rev.  Ethan  Smith,  of 
Poltney,  Vt.,  who  relates  as  follows: 

"Joseph  Merrick,  Esq.,  a  highly  respectable  character  in  the 
church  at  Pittsfield,  gave  the  following  account:  That  in  1815,  he 
was  levelling  some  ground  under  and  near  an  old  wood-shed, 
standing  on  a  place  of  his,  situated  on  Indian  Hill.  He  ploughed 
dnd  conveyed  away  old  chips  and  earth,  to  some  depth.  After 
the  work  was  done,  walking  over  the  place,  he  discovered,  near 
where  the  earth  had  been  dug  the  deepest,  a  black  strap,  as  it 
appeared,  about  six  inches  in  length,  and  one  and  a  half  in 
breadth,  and  about  the  thickness  of  a  leather  trace  to  a  harness. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  69 

He  perceived  it  had,  at  each  end,  a  loop,  of  some  hard  sub- 
stance, probably  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  it.  He  conveyed 
it  to  his  house,  and  threw  it  into  an  old  tool  box.  He  after- 
wards found  it  thrown  out  at  the  door,  and  again  conveyed  it  to 
the  box. 

"  After  some  time,  he  thought  he  would  examine  it ;  but  in  at- 
tempting to  cut  it,  found  it  as  hard  as  bone:  he  succeeded,  how- 
ever, in  getting  it  open,  and  found  it  was  formed  of  two  pieces  of 
thick  raw-hide,  sewed  and  made  water  tight  with  the  sinews  of 
some  animal,  and  gummed  over;  and  in  the  fold  was  contained 
four  folded  pieces  of  parchment.  They  were  of  a  dark  yellow 
hue,  and  contained  some  kind  of  writing.  The  neighbors  coming 
in  to  see  the  strange  discovery,  tore  one  of  the  pieces  to  atoms,  in 
the  true  Hun  and  Vandal  style.  The  other  three  pieces  Mr.  Mer- 
rick saved,  and  sent  them  to  Cambridge,  where  they  were  exa- 
mined, and  discovered  to  have  been  written  with  a  pen,  in  Hebrew, 
plain  and  legible.  The  writing  on  the  three  remaining  pieces  of 
parchment,  was  quotations  from  the  Old  Testament.  See  Dest., 
chap,  vi.,  from  4th  to  9th  verse,  inclusive;  also,  chap,  xi.,  verse 
13  to  21,  inclusive;  and  Exodus,  chap.  *xiii.,  11  to  16,  inclusive, 
to  which  the  reader  can  refer,  if  he  has  the  curiosity  to  read  this 
most  interesting  discovery." 

These  passages,  as  quoted  above,  were  found  in  the  strap  of 
raw-hide,  which  unquestionably  had  been  written  on  the  very 
pieces  of  parchment,  now  in  the  possession  of  the  Antiquarian 
Society,  before  Israel  left  the  land  of  Syria,  more  than  twenty- 
five  hundred  years  ago;  but  it  is  not  likely  the  raw-hide  in  which 
they  were  found  enclosed,  had  been  made  a  very  great  length 
of  time.  This  would  be  unnatural,  as  a  desire  to  look  at  the  sa- 
cred characters  would  be  very  great,  although  they  could  not 
read  them.  This,  however,  was  done  at  last,  as  it  appears,  and 
buried  with  some  chief,  on  the  spot  where  it  was  found,  called 
Indian  Hill. 

Dr.  West,  of  Stockbridge,  relates,  that  an  old  Indian  informed 
him,  that  his  fathers  in  this  country  had,  not  long  since,  been  in 
the  possession  of  a  book,  which  they  had,  for  a  long  time,  carried 
with  them;  but  having  lost  the  knowledge  of  reading  it,  they 
buried  it  with  an  Indian  chief. — (Vietc  of  the  Hebrews,  p  223.) 

It  had  been  handed  down,  from  family  to  family,  or  from  chief 


70  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

to  chief,  as  a  most  precious  relic,  if  not  as  an  amulet,  charm,  or 
talisman;"  for  it  is  not  to  be  supposed,  that  a  distinct  knowledge  of 
what  was  contained  in  the  strap  could  have  long  continued  among 
them  in  their  wandering  condition,  amid  woods  and  forests. 

"  Jt  is  said  by  Calmet,  that  the  above  texts  are  the  very  passa- 
ges of  Scripture  which  the  Jews  used  to  write  on  the  leaves  of 
their  phylacteries.  These  phylacteries  were  little  rolls  of  parch- 
ment, whereon  were  written  certain  words  of  the  law.  These 
they  wore  upon  their  forehead,  and  upon  the  wrist  of  the  left  arm." 
— (Smith's  View  of  the  Hebrews,  p.  220.) 

This  intimation  of  the  presence  of  the  Hebrews  in  America,  is 
too  unequivocal  to  be  passed  unnoticed,  and  the  circumstance  of 
its  being  found  so  near  the  Atlantic  coast,  and  at  so  vast  a  dis- 
tance from  Bhering's  straits,  we  are  still  inclined  to  suppose,  that 
such  of  the  Israelites  as  found  their  way  to  the  shores  of  America, 
on  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic,  may  have  come  from  Lapland  or 
Norway;  seeing  evident  tokens  exist  of  their  having  once  been 
there,  as  before  noticed. 

But  there  is  a  third  supposition  respecting  the  land  of  Arsareth; 
which  is,  that  it  is  situated  exactly  east  from  the  region  of  Syria. 
This  is  thought  to  be  the  country  now  known  in  Asia  by  the  appel- 
lation of  Little  Bucharia.  Its  distance  from  Syria  is  something 
more  than  two  thousand  miles;  which,  by  Esdras,  might  very 
well  be  said  to  be  a  journey  of  a  year  and  a  half,  through  an  en- 
tire wilderness. 

Bucharia,  the  region  of  country  of  which  we  are  about  to 
speak,  as  being  the  ancient  resort  of  a  part  of  the  lost  Ten  Tribes, 
is  in  distance  from  England,  3,475  miles;  a  little  southeast  from 
the  latitude  of  London;  and  from  the  state  of  New  York,  exactly 
double  that  distance,  6,950  miles,  on  an  air  line_,  as  measured  on 
an  artificial  globe,  and  in  nearly  the  same  latitude,  due  east  from 
this  country. 

It  is  not  impossible,  after  all  our  speculation,  and  the  specula- 
tions of  others,  that  instead  of  America,  or  of  Norway,  this  same 
Bucharia  is,  in  truth,  the  ancient  country  of  Arsareth;  although 
in  the  country  of  old  Norway,  and  of  America,  abundant  evi- 
dence of  the  presence  of  Jews  at  some  remote  period,  no  doubt 
derived  from  this  stock,  the  Ten  Tribes. 

The  country  of  Bucharia  is  situated  due  east  from  Syria,  where 


AND  DISCOVERIES  IN    THE    WEST.  71 

the  Ten  Tribes  were  placed  by  Salmanassar,  as  well  as  farther 
east  on  the  river  Gozan,  or  Ganges,  of  Hindostan.  The  distance 
is  about  2,500  miles,  and  at  that  time  was  a  vast  desert,  lying 
beyond  the  settlements  of  men,  in  all  probability;  and  in  order  to 
go  there  they  must  also  pass  through  the  narrow  passes  of  the 
river  Euphrates,  or  its  heads,  near  the  south  end  of  the  Caspian 
sea,  and  then  nearly  due  east,  inclining,  however  a  little  to  the 
north.  Two  circumstances  lead  to  a  supposition  that  this  Bu- 
charia  is  the  Arsareth  mentioned  by  Esdras.  The  first  is,  at  this 
place  is  found  a  great  population  of  Jews:  Second,  the  word  Ar- 
sareth is  similar  to  the  names  of  other  regions  of  that  country  in 
Asia:  as  Ararat,  Astracan,  Samarcand,  Yarcund,  Aracan,  Ala 
Tau,  Alatanian,  Aral,  Altai,  Amu,  Korassan,  Balk,  Bactriana, 
Bucharia,  Argun,  Narrat,  Anderab  Katlan:  (this  word  is  much 
like  the  Mexican  names  of  places,  as  Aztalan,  Copallan,  and  so 
on,)  Anderab,  Aktau,  Ailak.  Names  of  countries  and  rivers 
might  be  greatly  multiplied,  which  bear  a  strong  affinity  in  sound 
and  formation  to  the  word  Arsareth,  which  is  probably  a  Persian 
word,  as  well  as  the  rest  we  have  quoted,  as  from  these  regions, 
ancient  Bucharia,  the  foundations  of  the  Persian  power  was  de- 
rived. 

The  reader  can  choose  between  the  three,  whether  America, 
Norway,  or  Bucharia,  is  the  ancient  country  called  Arsareth,  as 
one  of  the  three  is,  beyond  a  doubt,  the  place  alluded  to  by  Esdras, 
to  which  the  Ten  Tribes  went;  and  in  all  three  the  traits  of  Jews 
are  found. 

In  this  country,  Bucharia,  many  thousand  Jews  have  been  dis- 
covered, who  were  not  known  by  the  Christian  nations  to  have 
existed  at  all  till  recently.  It  would  appear  from  this  circum- 
stance, that  the  Ten  Tribes  may  have  divided,  a  part  going  east 
to  the  country  now  called  Bucharia;  and  a  part  west,  to  the  coun- 
try now  called  Norway;  both  of  which,  at  that  time,  were  the 
region  of  almost  endless  solitudes,  and  about  equal  distances 
from  Syria:  and  from  Bucharia  to  Bhering's  strait,  is  also  about 
the  same  distance. 

In  process  of  time,  both  from  Bucharia  in  Asia,  and  Norway  in 
Europe,  the  discendants  from  these  Ten  Tribes  may  have  found 
their  way  into  America.  Those  from  Norway,  by  the  way  of 
islands,  boats  or  continent,  which  may  then  have  existed,  between 
America  and  north  of  Europe;  and  those  from  Bucharia,  by  the 


72  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

way  of  Bhering's  strait,  which  at  that  time,  it  is  likely,  was  no- 
strait,  but  an  isthmus,  if  not  a  country  of  great  extent,  uniting 
Asia  with  America.  The  account  of  the  Bucharian  Jews  is  as 
follows : 

"  After  having  6een,  some  years  past,  merchants  from  Tiflis, 
Persia,  and  Armenia,  among  the  visitors  at  Leipsic,  we  have  had, 
for  the  first  time,  (1826,)  two  traders  from  Bucharia,  with  shawls, 
which  are  there  manufactured  of  the  finest  wool  of  the  goats  of  Thi- 
bet and  Cashmere,  by  the  Jewish  families,  who  form  a  third  part 
of  the  popoulation.  In  Bucharia,  (formerly  the  capitol  of  Sog- 
diana,)  the  Jews  have  been  very  numerous  ever  since  the  Baby- 
lonian captivity,  and  are  there  as  remarkable  for  their  industry 
and  manufactures,  as  they  are  in  England  for  their  money  trans- 
actions. It  was  not  till  1826,  that  the  Russian  government  suc- 
ceeded in  extending  its  diplomatic  mission  far  into  Bucharia.  The 
above  traders  exchanged  their  shawls  for  coarse  and  fine  woollen 
clothes,  of  such  colors  as  are  most  esteemed  in  the  east." 

Much  interest  has  been  excited  by  the  information  which  this 
paragraph  conveys,  and  which  is  equally  novel  and  important. 
In  none  of  the  geographical  works  which  we  have  consulted  do 
we  find  the  least  hint  as  to  the  existence  in  Bucharia  of  such  a 
body  of  Jews  as  are  here  mentioned,  amounting  to  one-third  of 
the  whole  population;  but  as  the  fact  can  no  longer  be  doubted, 
the  next  point  of  inquiry  which  presents  itself  is,  whence  have 
they  proceeded,  and  how  have  they  come  to  establish  themselves 
in  a  region  so  remote  from  their  original  country?  This  question, 
we  think,  can  only  be  answered  by  supposing  that  these  persons 
are  the  descendants  of  the  long  lost  Ten  Tribes,  Concerning  the 
facts  of  which,  theologians,  historians,  and  antequarians,  have 
been  alike  puzzled:  and  however  wild  this  hypothesis  may  at  first 
appear,  there  are  not  wanting  circumstances  to  render  it  far  from 
being  improbable.  In  the  17th  chapter  of  the  second  book  of 
Kings,  it  is  said,  "  in  the  ninth  year  of  Hoshea  the  king  of  As- 
syria took  Samaria,  and  carried  Israel  away  into  Assyria,  and 
placed  them  in  Helah  and  in  Haber  by  the  river  Gozan,  and  in 
the  cities  of  the  Medes:"  and  in  the  subsequent  verses,  as  well  as 
the  writings  of  the  prophets,  it  is  said,  that  the  Lord  then  "  put 
away  Israel  out  of  his  sight,  and  carried  them  away  into  the  land 
of  Assyria  unto  this  day."    In  the  Apocrypha,  2d  Esdras,  ch.  xiii.,. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  7$ 

it  is  said,  that  the  Ten  Tribes  were  carried  beyond  the  river,- 
(Euphrates,)  and  so  they  were  brought  into  another  land,  when 
they  took  counsel  together,  that  they  would  leave  the  multitude  of 
the  heathen,  and  go  forth  into  a  further  country,  where  never 
mankind  dwelt;  that  they  entered  in  at  the  narrow  passages  of  the 
river  Euphrates,  when  the  springs  of  the  floods  were  stayed, 
(frozen,)  and  "went  through  the  country  a  great  journey,  even  a 
year  and  a  half;"  and  it  is  added,  "  there  will  they  remain, 
until  the  latter  time,  when  they  come  forth  again."  The  country 
beyond  Bucharia  was  unknown  to  the  ancients,  and  it  is,  we  be- 
lieve, generally  admitted,  that  the  river  Gozan,  mentioned  in  the 
book  of  Kings,  is  the  same  as  the  Ganges,  which  has  its  rise  in 
those  very  countries  in  which  the  Jews  reside,  of  which  the  Liepsic 
account  speaks.  The  distance  which  these  two  merchants  must 
have  travelled,  cannot,  therefore,  be  less  than  three  thousand 
miles;  and  there  can  be  but  little  doubt  that  the  Jews,  whom  they 
represent  as  a  third  part  of  the  population  of  the  country,  are 
descendants  of  the  Ten  Tribes  of  Israel  settled  by  the  river  Gozan. 
The  great  plain  of  Central  Asia,  forming  four  principal 
sides,  viz:  Little  Bucharia,  Thibet,  Mongolia,  Mantehous, 
contains  a  surface  of  150,000  square  miles,  and  a  population 
of  20,000,000.  This  vast  country  is  still  very  little  known. 
The  great  traits  of  its  gigantic  formation  compose,  for  the 
most  part,  all  that  we  are  certain  of.  It  is  an  immense  plain 
of  an  excessive  elevation,  intersected  with  barren  rocks  and 
vast  deserts  of  black  and  almost  moving  sand.  It  is  supported 
on  all  sides  by  mountains  of  granite,  whose  elevated  summits 
determine  the  different  elimates  of  the  great  continent  of  Asia, 
and  form  the  devision  of  its  waters.  From  its  exterior  flow  all 
the  great  rivers  of  that  part  of  the  world.  In  the  interior  are 
a  quantity  of  rivers,  having  little  declivity,  or  no  issue,  which 
are  lost  in  the  sands,  or  perhaps  feed  stagnant  waters.  In  the 
southern  chains  are  countries,  populous,  rich  and  civilized;  Little 
Bucharia,  Great  and  Little  Thibet.  The  people  of  the  north  are 
shepherds  and  wanderers.  Their  riches  consist  in  their  herds. 
Their  habitations  are  tents,  and  towns,  and  camps,  which  are  trans- 
ported according  to  the  wants  of  pasturage  The  Buchanans  en- 
joy the  right  of  trading  to  all  parts  of  Asia,  and  the  Thibetians 
cultivate  the  earth  to  advantage.     The  ancients  had  but  a  confused 


74  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

idea  of  Central  Asia.  "  The  inhabitants  of  the  country,"  as  we 
learn  from  good  authority,  M  are  in  a  high  state  of  civilization; 
possessing  all  the  useful  manufactures,  and  lofty  houses  built  with 
stone.  The  merchants  of  Cashmere,  on  their  way  to  Yarkland  in 
Little  Bukharia  pass  through  Little  Thibet.  This  country  is  scarce- 
ly known  to  European  geographers."  The  immense  plain  of 
Central  Asia  is  hemmed  in,  and  almost  inaccessible  by  mountain 
ranges  of  the  greatest  elevation,  which  surround  it  on  all  sides, 
except  China;  and  when  the  watchful  jealousy  of  the  government 
of  the  Celestial  Empire  is  considered,  it  will  scarcely  be  wondered 
at,  that  the  vast  region  in  question  is  so  little  known. 

Such  is  the  country  which  these  newly  discovered  Jews  are 
said  to  inhabit  in  such  numbers.  The  following  facts  may  per- 
haps serve  to  throw  some  additional  light  on  this  interesting  sub- 
ject. 

In  the  year  1822,  a  Mr.  Sargon,  who  had  been  appointed  one 
of  the  agents  of  the  London  Society,  communicated  to  England 
some  interesting  accounts  of  a  number  of  persons  resident  at 
Bombay,  Cinnamore,  and  their  vicinity,  who  are  evidently  the 
descendants  of  the  Jews,  calling  themselves  Beni  Israel,  (sons  of 
Israel)  and  bearing  almost  uniformly  Jewish  names,  but  with  Per- 
sian terminations.  This  gentleman,  feeling  very  desirous  of  ob- 
taining all  possible  knowledge  of  their  condition,  undertook  a  mis- 
sion for  this  purpose  to  Cinnamore;  and  the  result  of  his  inquiries 
was,  a  conviction  that  they  were  not  Jews  of  the  one  tribe  and  a 
half,  being  of  a  different  race  to  the  white  and  black  Jews  at 
Cochin,  and  consequently,  that  they  were  a  remnant  of  the  long 
lost  Ten  Tribes.  This  gentleman  also  concluded,  from  the  infor- 
mation he  obtained  respecting  the  Beni  Israel,  or  sons  of  Israel, 
that  they  existed  in  great  numbers  in  the  countries  between  Cochin 
and  Bombay,  the  north  of  Persia,  among  the  hordes  of  Tartary, 
and  in  Cashmere;  the  very  countries  in  which,  according  to  the 
paragraph  in  the  German  paper,  they  exist  in  such  numbers.  So 
far,  then,  these  accounts  confirm  each  other,  and  there  is  every 
probability  that  the  Beni  Israel,  resident  on  the  west  of  the  Indian 
peninsula,  had  originally  proceeded  from  Bucharia.  It  will,  there- 
fore, be  interesting  to  know  something  of  their  moral  and  religi- 
ous character.  The  following  particulars  are  collected  from  Mr. 
Sargon's  accounts  :  1.  In  dress  and  manners  they  resemble  the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  75 

natives  so  as  not  to  be  distinguished  from  them,  except  by  atten- 
tive observation  and  inquiry.  2.  They  have  Hebrew  names  of 
the  same  kind,  and  with  the  same  local  termination  as  the  Sepoys 
in  the  the  ninth  regiment  Bombay  native  infantry.  3.  Some  of 
them  read  Hebrew,  and  they  have  a  faint  tradition  of  the  cause  of 
their  original  exodus  (exit)  from  Egypt.  4.  Their  common  lan- 
guage is  the  Hindoo.  5.  They  keep  idols  and  worship  them,  and 
use  idolatrous  ceremonies  intermixed  with  Hebrew.  6.  They  cir- 
cumcise their  children.  7.  They  observe  the  Kipper,  or  great  ex- 
piation day  of  the  Hebrews,  but  not  the  Sabbath,  or  any  of  the 
feast  or  fast  days.  8.  They  call  themselves  Gorah  Jeliudi,  or 
white  Jews;  and  they  term  the  black  Jews  Colla  Jehudi.  9.  They 
speak  of  the  Arabian  Jews  as  their  brethren,  but  do  not  acknow- 
ledge the  European  Jews  as  such.  They  use,  on  all  occasions, 
and  under  the  most  trivial  circumstances,  the  usual  Jewish  prayer 
— "  Hear,  O  Israel,  the  Lord  our  God  is  one  Lord."  10.  They 
have  no  cohen,  (priest)  levite,  or  kasi,  among  them,  under  those 
terms;  but  they  have  a  kasi,  (reader)  who  performs  prayers,  and 
conducts  their  religious  ceremonies ;  and  they  appear  to  have 
elders  and  a  chief  in  each  community,  who  determine  in  their 
religious  concei-ns.  11.  They  expect  the  Messiah,  and  that  they 
will  one  day  return  to  Jerusalem.  They  think  the  time  of  his  ap- 
pearance will  soon  arrive,  at  which  they  much  rejoice,  believing 
that  at  Jerusalem  they  will  see  their  God,  worship  him  only,  and 
be  despised  no  more. 

These  particulars,  we  should  presume,  can  scarcely  fail  to 
prove  interesting,  both  in  a  moral  and  religious,  as  well  as  in  a 
geographical  point  of  view.  The  number  of  the  scattered  mem- 
bers of  the  tribes  of  Judah,  and  the  half  tribe  of  Benjamine, 
rather  exceed  than  fall  short  of  five  millions.  Now,  if  this  num- 
ber be  added  to  the  many  other  millions  to  be  found  in  the  different 
countries  of  the  east,  what  an  immense  power  would  be  brought 
into  action,  were  the  spirit  of  nationality  once  roused,  or  any  ex- 
traordinary event  to  occur,  which  should  induce  them  to  unite  in 
claiming  possession  of  that  land  which  was  given  to  them  i(  for 
an  heritage  forever,"  and  to  which,  in  every  other  clime  of  the 
earth,  their  fondest  hopes  and  their  dearest  aspiration  never  cease 
to  turn. 

But  although  the  opinion  that  the  American  Indians  are  the  de- 


76  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES. 

scendants  of  the  lost  Ten  Tribes,  is  now  a  popular  one,  and  ge- 
nerally believed,  yet  there  are  some  who  totally  discard  this 
opinion.  And  among  such,,  as  chief,  is  Professor  Rafinesque, 
whose  opinions  on  the  subject  of  the  flood  of  Noah  not  being  uni- 
versal, and  of  the  ark,  we  have  introduced  on  the  first  pages  of 
this  work. 

This  gentleman  is  decidedly,  and  we  may  say  severely,  opposed 
to  this  doctrine,  and  alleges  that  the  Ten  Tribes  were  never  lost, 
but  are  still  in  the  countries  of  the  east  about  the  region  of  ancient 
Syria,  in  Asia.  He  ridicules  all  those  authors  who  have  attempted 
to  find  in  the  customs  of  the  Indians,  traits  of  the  Jews,  and 
stamps  them  with  being  egregiously  ignorant  of  the  origin  of  things 
pertaining  to  this  subject.  This  is  taking  a  high  stand,  indeed, 
and  if  he  can  maintain  it,  he  has  a  right  to  the  honor  thereof. 
Upon  this  notion,  he  says,  a  new  sect  of  religion  has  arisen,  name- 
ly, the  Mormonites,  who  pretend  to  have  discovered  a  book  with 
golden  leaves,  in  which  is  the  history  of  the  American  Jews,  and 
their  leader,  Mormon,  who  came  hither  more  than  2,000  years 
ago.  This  work  is  ridiculous  enough,  it  is  true.  ;  as  the  whole 
book  of  Mormon  bears  the  stamp  of  folly,  and  is  a  poor  attempt 
at  an  imitation  of  the  Old  Testament  Scriptures,  and  is  without 
connection,  object,  or  aim  ;  shewing  every  where  language  and 
phrases  of  too  late  construction  to  accord  with  the  Asiatic  manner 
of  composition,  which  highly  characterises  the  the  style  of  the 
Bible,  and  how  can  it  be  otherwise  as  it  was  written  in  Ontario 
county,  New  York. 

As  reasons,  this  philosopher  advances  as  follows,  against  the 
American  nations  being  descended  from  the  Ten  Tribes  of  ancient 
Israel  : 

44  1.  These  Ten  Tribes  are  not  lost,  as  long  supposed  ;  their 
descendants,  more  or  less  mixed  with  the  natives,  are  yet  found 
in  Media,  Iran,  Taurin,  Caublistan,  Hindostan,  and  China,  where 
late  travellers  have  traced  them  calling  themselves  by  various 
names. 

2.  The  American  nations  knew  not  the  Sabbath,  nor  yet  the 
Sabbattical  weeks  and  years  of  the  Jews.  This  knowledge  could 
never  have  been  lost  by  the  Hebrews.  The  only  weeks  known 
in  America,  were  of  three  days,  five  days,  and  half  lunations,  (or 
half  a  moon)  as  among  the  primitive  nations,  before  the  week  of 


AND    DISCOVERIES'   IN    WEST.  77 

seven  days  was  used  in  Asia,  which  was  based  upon  the  seven 
planets,  long  before  the  laws  of  Moses." 

Here  is  another  manifest  attempt  of  this  philosopher  to  invali- 
date the  Scriptures,  in  attempting  to  fix  the  origin  of  the  ancient 
Jewish  and  present  Christian  Sabbath,  on  the  observances  of  the 
ancient  nations,  "respecting  the  motions  of  the  seven  primary 
planets  of  the  heavens  ;  when  it  is  emphatically  said,  in  the  He- 
brew Scriptures,  that  the  week  of  seven  days  was  based  on  the 
seven  day's  work  of  the  Creator,  in  the  creation  of  the  world. 
And  as  the  Creation  is  older  than  the  astronomical  observations 
of  the  most  ancient  nations  of  the  earth,  it  is  evident  that  the 
Scripture  account  of  the  origin  of  seven-day  week  ought  to  have 
the  precedence  over  all  opinions  since  sprung  up. 

3.  He  says,  "  The  Indians  hardly  knew  the  use  of  iron,  al- 
though common  among  the  Hebrews,  and  likely  never  to  be  lost ; 
nor  did  they,  the  Indians  of  America,  know  the  use  of  the  plough." 

"  4.  The  same  applies  to  the  use  of  writing ;  such  an  art  is 
never  lost  when  once  known." 

"5.  Circumsion  was  unknown,  and  even  abhorred  by  the  Ame- 
ricans, except  two  nations,  who  used  it — The  Mayans,  of  Yu- 
actan,  in  South  America,  who  worshipped  a  hundred  idols,  and 
the  Calchaquis,  of  Caho,  of  the  same  country,  who  worshipped 
the  sun  and  stars,  believing  that  departed  souls  became  stars. 
These  beliefs  are  quite  different  from  Judaism;  and  besides  this, 
the  rite  of  circumsion  was  common  to  Egypt,  Ethiopia,  Edom, 
and  Chalchis." 

But  to  this  we  reply,  supposing  circumsion  was  practised  by  all 
those  nations,  and  even  more,  this  does  not  disprove  the  rite  to  be 
of  pure  Hebrew  or  Jewish  origin,  as  we  have  an  account  of  it  in 
the  Scriptures  written  by  Moses,  as  being  in  use  quite  two  thou- 
sand years  before  Christ  ;  long  enough  before  Abraham  or  his 
posterity  knew  any  thing  of  the  Egyptians;  it  was  therefore,  most 
undoubtedly  introduced  among  the  Egyptians  by  the  Jews  them- 
selves, or  their  ancestors,  and  from  them  the  custom  has  gone  out 
into  many  nations  of  the  earth. 

Again,  Mr.  Rafinesque  says,  one  tribe  there  was,  namely,  the 
Calchaquis,  who  worshipped  the  sun  and  the  stars,  supposing 
them  to  be  the  souls  of  the  departed. 

This  notion  is  not  very  far  removed  from,  or  at  least  may  have 


78  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

had  its  origin  with  the  Jews;  for  Daniel,  one  of  their  prophets, 
who  lived  about  500  years  before  Christ,  expressly  says,  respect- 
ing the  souls  of  the  departed  righteous:  "  They  that  be  wise  shall 
shine  as  the  brightness  of  the  firmament,  and  they  that  turn 
many  to  righteousness,  as  the  stars,  for  ever  and  ever."  A  sen- 
timent of  such  transcendant  beauty  and  consequence  is  not  easily 
lost.  This  tribe,  therefore,  as  above  named,  may  they  not  have 
been  of  Jewish  origin  ? 

"  6.  None  of  the  American  tribes  have  the  striking  ;  sharp, 
Jewish  features,  and  physical  conformation."  [But  other  authors 
of  equal  celebrity,  have  a  contrary  opinion.   Mitchel  and  others.] 

"  7.  The  American  Indians  eat  hogs,  hares,  fish,  and  all  the 
forbidden  animals  of  Moses,  but  each  tribe  abstain  from  their 
tutelar  animals,"  (which,  as  they  imagine,  presides  over  their 
destinies,)  "  or  badges  of  families  of  some  peculiar  sort." 

But  to  this  we  reply,  most  certainly  the  Jews  did  use  fish  ;  as 
in  all  their  history,  even  in  the  Bible,  frequent  reference  is  had  to 
heir  use  of  fishes,  and  to  their  fish  markets,  where  they  were 
sold  and  bought. 

"  8.  The  American  customs  of  scalping  ;  torturing  prisoners, 
cannibalism,  painting  their  bodies,  and  going  naked,  even  in  very 
cold  climates,  are  totally  unlike  the  Hebrew  customs."  Scapling, 
with  several  other  customs  of  the  sort,  we  have  elsewhere  in  this 
work  shown  to  be  of  Scythian  origin;  but  does  not,  on  that  account, 
prove;  nor  in  any  way  invalidate  the  other  opinion,  that  some  of 
the  tribes  are  of  Jewish  origin. 

"  9.  A  multitude  of  languages  exists  in  America,  which  may 
perhaps  be  reduced  to  twenty-five  radical  languages,  and  two  thou- 
sand dialects.  But  they  are  often  unlike  the  Hebrew,  in  roots, 
words,  and  grammar  ;  they  have,  by  far,  says  the  author,  more 
analogies  with  the  Sanscrit,"  (the  ancient  Chinese)  Celtic,  Bask, 
Pelasgian  Berber,"  (in  Europe ;j  "  Lybian,  Egyptian,"  (in  Afri- 
ca;) "  Persian,  Turan,  &c,"  (also  in  Europe;)  "  or  in  fact,  all 
the  primitive  languages  of  mankind."     This  we  believe. 

"10.  The  Americans  cannot  have  sprung  from  a  single  nation, 
because,  independently  of  the  languages,  their  features  and  com- 
plexions are  as  various  as  in  Africa  and  Asia." 

"  We  find  in  America,  while,  tawny,  brown,  yellow,  olive,  cop- 
per/and  even  black  nations,  as  in  Africa.     Also,  dwarjs  and 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  79 

giants,  handsome  and  ugly  features,  flat  and  aquiline  noses, 
thick  and  thin  lips,"  &c.  [Among  the  Jews  is  also  a  great 
variety.] 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Smith,  of  Pultney,  Vt.,  a  few  years  since,  pub- 
lished a  work  entitled  "  A  View  of  the  Hebrews,"  in  which  he 
labors  to  establish  that  the  American  Indians  worshipped  but  one 
God;  the  great  Yohewah,  or  Jehovah  of  the  Scriptures.  This  is 
vehemently  opposed  by  philosopher  Rafinesque,  as  follows,  in  re- 
ply to  him. 

"  You  say,  all  the  Americans  had  the  sa?ne  God  Yohewa;  this 
is  utterly  false.  This  was  the  god  of  the  Chactas,  and  Florida 
Indians  only  ;  many  other  tribes  had  tripple  gods,  or  trimurtis, 
as  in  Hindostan,  having  names  nearly  Sanscrit."  [But  neither 
does  this  disprove  that  some  of  these  tribes  are  of  Jewish  origin.] 

"  Polytheism,"  (a  plurality  of  gods,)  "idolatry,  and  a  complex 
mythology,  prevailed  among  all  the  most  civilized  nations"  of  this 
country. 

"  All  the  ancient  religions  were  found  in  America,"  which 
have  prevailed  in  the  old  world,  in  the  earliest  ages,  as  "  Theism, 
Sabaism,  Magism,  Hindooism,  Shamanism,  Fetichism,  &c.  but 
no  Judaism. 

He  says,  the  few  examples  of  the  affinity  between  the  Indian 
languages  and  the  Hebrew,  given  by  Mr.  Smith,  in  his  work,  be- 
long only  to  the  Floridan  and  Caribbean  languages.  Mr.  Rafin- 
esque says,  he  could  show  ten  times  as  many  in  the  Aruac,  Gua- 
rian,"  (languages  of  South  America,)  "  but  what  is  that  com- 
pared with  the  100,000  affinities  with  the  primitive  languages." 

"  All  the  civilized  Americans  had  a  priesthood,  or  priestly  caste, 
and  so  had  the  Hindoos,  Egyptians,  Persians,  Celts,  and  Ethio- 
pians.    Were  they  all  Jews  ? 

"  Tribes  are  found  among  all  the  ancient  nations,  Arabs. 
Berbers,  Celts,  Negroes,  &c.,  who  are  not  Jews.  The  most  ci- 
vilized nations  had  castes,  instead  of  tribes,  in  America  as  well 
as  Egypt  and  India  ;  the  Mexicans,  the  Mayans,  Muhizcas,  the 
Peruvians,  &c,  had  no  tribes.  The  animal  badges  of  tribes,  are 
found  among  Negroes  and  Tartars,  as  well  as  our  Indians." 

"Arks  of  covenant  and  cities  of  refuge  are  not  peculiar  to  the 
Jews;  many  Asiatic  nations  had  them,  also  the  Egyptians,  and 
nine-tenths  of  our  Indian  tribes  have  none  at  all,   or  have  only 


•80  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

holy  bags,"  (for  an  ark)  somewhat  like  a  tailsman,  a  charm,  or 
as  the  "  Fetiches,  of  the  Africans." 

But  we  reply,  there  is  no  evidence  that  other  nations  than  the 
Jews  had  cities  of  refuge  and  imitations  of  the  ark  of  the  covenant, 
prior  to  the  time  of  Moses,  which  was  full  sixteen  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  and  from  whom  it  is  altogether  probable,  that  all 
the  nations  among  whom  such  traits  are  found,  derived  them  at 
first  from  the  laws  of  that  Hebrew  legislator  Those  nations, 
therefore,  among  whom,  at  this  distance  of  time,  those  traits  are 
found  most  resembling  the  Jews,  may  be  said,  with  some  degree 
of  propriety,  to  be  their  descendants  ;  and  among  many  tribes  of 
the  western  Indians,  these  traits  are  found,  if  we  may  believe  the 
most  credible  witnesses. 

"  The  religious  cry  of  aleluga,  is  not  Jewish,  says  this  au- 
thor, but  primitive,  and  found  among  the  Hindoos,  Arabs,  Greeks, 
Saxons,  Celts,  Lybians,  &c,  under  the  modification  of  hulili 
yululu,  tulujha,  Sfc.  Other  Americans  call  it  ululaez,  gualulu, 
alvyah  fyc." 

All  this  being  true,  which  we  are  willing  to  allow,  does  not  dis- 
prove but  that  these  forms  of  speech,  which  are  directed  in  praise 
and  adoration  of  a  supreme  or  superior  being,  of  some  nature,  no 
matter  what,  may  all  have  originated  from  the  Hebrew  Jews,  as 
this  name  of  God,  namely,  Jehovah,  was  known  among  that  na- 
tion, before  the  existence,  as  nations,  by  those  names,  of  either 
the  Hindoos,  Arabs,  Greeks,  Saxons,  Celts,  or  Lybians  ;  for  it 
was  known  in  the  family  of  Noah,  and  to  all  the  patriarchs  be- 
fore the  fllood.  The  original  word,  translated  God,  was  Jehova, 
and  also  Elohim,  which  are  generally  translated  Lord  and  God. 

In  the  second  chapter  of  Genesis,  at  the  fourth  verse,  the  word 
Jehovah  first  occurs,  says  Dr.  Clarke,  in  the  original  as  written  by 
Moses  ;  but  was  in  use  long  before  the  days  of  Abraham, 
among  the  ancestors  of  that  patriarch.  From  this  word,  Jehovah, 
and  Elohim,  the  words  aleluia  &c,  as  above,  it  is  admitted  on  all 
hands,  were  at  first  derived;  and  are  in  all  nations,  where  known 
and  used,  directed  to  the  praise  and  adoration  of  the  Almighty, 
or  other  objects  of  worship. 

The  most  exalted  form  of  praise,  it  appears,  was  knowa  to 
John  the  Revelator,  for  he  says,  in  chapter  xix.,  "  I  heard  a 
great  voice  of  much   people  in  heaven,   saying  alleluia  ;  and 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  81 

again,  they  said  Allelui."  This  form  of  praise,  says  Dr.  Clarke, 
the  heathen  borrowed  from  the  Jews,  as  is  evident  from  the 
Pceaiis,  or  hymns,  sung  in  honor  of  Apollo,  which  began  and  ended 
with  eleleuicy  a  mere  composition  of  the  Hebrew  words  alleulia 
and  hallelujah.  It  is  even  found  among  the  North  American  In- 
dians, and  adapted  by  them  to  the  same  purpose,  viz.,  the  worship 
of  God,  or  the  Great  Spirit 

From  what  we  have  been  able  to  show  on  this  subject  as  above, 
we  cannot  subscribe  to  the  opinion,  that  those  words  are  not  of 
Hebrew  and  Jewish  origins;  consequently,  being  of  Hebrew  ori- 
gin, it  must  follow,  that  where  they  are  found  in  the  most  pure 
and  unadulterated  use,  that  the  people  so  using  them  are  mo"st  likely 
to  be  of  Jewish  descent  ;  and  this  is  found  among  the  American 
Indians. 

Among  some  of  their  tribes  they  have  a  place  denominated  the 
beloved  square,  Here  they  sometimes  dance  a  whole  night  ;  but 
always  in  a  bowing  or  worshipping  posture,  singing  continually, 
hallelujah  Ye-ho-wah,  Ye-ho-vah  ;  which  last  word,  says  Clarke, 
is  probably  the  true  pronunciation  of  the  ancient  Hebrew  word, 
Jehovah. 

It  is  no  marvel,  then,  that  these  Jewish  customs  are  found 
"  among  nearly  all  the  ancient  nations  of  Asia,  Africa,  Europe 
and  Polynesia,  nay,  even  among  the  wild  negroes  to  this  day," 
since  they  were  in  use  at  the  very  outset  of  the  spread  of  the  na- 
tions from  Ararat,  and  are,  therefore,  of  Hebrew  primitive  origin, 
but  not  heathen  primitive  origin,  as  asserted  by  Rafinesque,  We 
are  not  tenacious,  however,  whether  the  Ten  Tribes  were  lost  or 
not,  nor  do  we  disagree  to  the  opinions  that  they  are  found  in  al- 
most all  parts  of  the  old  world,  having  mingled  with  the  various 
nations  of  Asia  ;  but  if  so,  we  inquire,  why  may  they  not, 
therefore,  be  found  in  America  ?  Could  they  not  as  easily  have 
found  their  way  hither  as  the  other  nations  of  the  east?  Most  as- 
suredly. 

It  is  not  the  object  of  this  volume  to  contend  on  this  point;  but 
when  we  find  attempts  to  overturn  the  Scriptures,  and,  if  possi- 
ble, to  make  it  appear,  if  not  by  so  many  words,  yet  in  the  man- 
ner we  understand  this  writer's  remarks,  that  the  Bible  itself  is 
nothing  else  than  a  collection  of  heathenism,  placed  under  the 
plausible  idea  of  primitive  words,  primitive  usuages  and  primitive 

i 


82  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

religion  ;  we  think  this  is  placing  the  (currus  bovem  Iruhit)  cart" 
before  the  horse,  and  should  not  be  allowed  to  pass  without  re- 
proof. 


A  further  account  of  the  Convulsions  of  the  Globe,  ivith  the 
Removal  of  Islands. 

If  the  supposition  of  naturalists  may  obtain  belief,  there  has- 
been  a  whole  continent,  reaching  from  the  north  of  Europe  to 
Bhering's  strait;  uniting  not  only  Europe  with  America,  on  the 
east,  but  also  Asia  on  the  north,  and  may  have  continued  on  south; 
from  Bhering's  strait,  some  way  down  the  Pacific,  as  Buffon  part- 
ly believed,  uniting  America  and  China  on  the  west. 

It  was  contended  by  Clavigero,  that  the  equatorial  parts  of  Af- 
rica and  America  were  once  united.  By  which  means,  before  the 
connexion  was  torn  away  by  the  irruption  of  the  sea  on  both  sides, 
the  inhabitants  from  the  African  continent  came,  in  the  earliest, 
ages,  to  South  America.  Whether  this  be  true  or  not,  the  two 
countries  approach  each  other  in  a  remarkable  manner,  along  the 
coast  of  Guinea,  on  the  side  of  Africa,  and  the  coast  of  Pernam- 
buco,  on  the  side  of  South  America.  These  are  the  places  which, 
in  reality,  seem  to  stretch  towards  each  other,  as  though  they  had 
been  once  united. 

The  innumerable  Islands  scattered  all  over  the  Pacific  ocean,, 
populous  with  men,  more  than  intimates  a  period,  even  since  the 
flood,  when  all  the  different  continents  of  the  globe  were  united 
together,  and  the  sea  so  disposed  of,  that  they  did  not  break  this 
harmony  so  well  calculated  to  facilitate  the  migrations  of  men  and 
animals. 

Several  tribes  of  the  present  Southern  Indians,  as  they  now  are 
called,  have  traditions  that  they  come  from  the  east,  or  through 
the  Atlantic  ocean.  Rafinesque,  says,  it  is  important  to  distin- 
guish the  American  nations  of  eastern  origin  from  those  of 
northern.  The  'latter,  he  says,  were  invaders  from  Tartary, 
and  were  as  different  in  their  manners  as  were  the  Romans  and 
Vandals. 

The  southern  nations,  among  whom  this  tradition  is  found,  are 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  83 

the  Natchez,  Apalachians,  Talascas,  Mayans,  Myhizcas,  and 
Haytians.  But  those  of  the  Algonquin  stock  point  to  a  north- 
west origin,  which  is  the  way  from  the  northern  regions  of  Asia. 

It  is  not  likely,  that  immediately  after  the  era  of  the  deluge, 
there  was  as  much  ocean  which  appeared  above  ground,  as  at  the 
present  time  ;  but  instead  of  this,  lakes  were  more  numerous. 
Consequently,  on  the  surface  of  the  globe  there  was  much  more 
land  than  at  the  present  time  But  from  various  convulsions, 
more  than  we  have  spoken  of,  whose  history  is  now  lost,  in  past 
ages,  many  parts,  nay,  nearly  all  the  earthly  surface  is  sunken 
to  the  depths  below,  while  the  waters  have  risen  above  ;  nearly 
three-fourths  of  the  globe's  surface  is  known  to  be  water.  How 
appalling  is  this  reflection! 

The  currents  of  ocean  running  through  the  bowels  ef  the  earth, 
by  the  disposition  of  its  creator,  to  promote  motion  in  the  waters, 
as  motion  is  essential  to  all  animal  life,  have,  doubtless,  by  sub- 
terranean attrition,  affected  the  foundations  of  whole  islands, 
which  have  sunk  beneath  the  waters  at  different  periods.  To  such 
convulsions  as  these,  it  would  seem,  Job  has  alluded,  in  chapter 
ix.,  verse  5,  as  follows  :  "  Which  removeth  the  mountains,  and 
they  know  not ;  which  overturneth  them  in  his  anger," 

A.dam  Clarke's  comment  on  this  verse  is  as  follows  :  "  This 
seems  to  refer  to  earthquakes.  By  these  strong  convulsions, 
mountains,  valleys,  hills,  even  whole  islands,  are  removed  in  an 
instant;  and  to  this  latter  circumstance  the  words  '  they  knoio  not,' 
most  probably  refer.  The  work  is  done  in  the  twinkling  of  an 
eye  ;  no  warning  is  given  ;  the  mountain  thai  seemed  to  be  as 
firm  as  the  earth  on  which  it  rested,  was  in  the  same  moment  both 
visible  and  invisible,  so  suddenly  was  it  swallowed  up." — (See  p. 
59,  60.) 

It  can  scarcely  be  supposed  but  Job  was  acquainted  with  occur- 
ences of  the  kind,  in  order  to  justify  his  remark  of  such  occuren- 
ces as  being  done  by  God  in  his  anger. 

It  is  not  impossible  but  the  fact  upon  which  the  following  story 
is  founded,  may  have  been  known  to  Job,  who  was  a  man  suppos- 
ed in  possession  of  every  species  of  information  calculated  to  in- 
terest the  nobler  faculties  of  the  human  mind,  if  we  may  judge 
from  the  book  bearing  his  name.  The  story  is  an  account  of  a 
certain  island,  called  by  the  ancients  Atalanlis;  and  as  all  learn- 


84  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ing,  uninspired,  and  general  information,  was  anciently  in  posses- 
sion of  heathen  philosophers  and  priests,  to  whom  it  was  the  cus- 
tom even  for  princes  to  resort  before  they  were  considered  quali- 
fied to  sit  on  the  the  thrones  of  their  fathers,  we  ar*  inclined  to 
credit  the  account  as  it  is  given  by  one  of  those  characters.  Such 
were  the  Egyptian  priests  to  the  Egyptians,  and  the  Druids  to  the 
Celtic  nations  ;  the  Brahmins  to  the  Hindoos ;  the  Magi  to  the 
Persians;  the  philosophers  to  the  Greeks  and  Romans  ;  and  the 
prophets  of  the  Indians,  to  the  western  tribes. 

"  This  island  is  mentioned  by  Plato,  in  his  dialogue  of  Timaeus. 
Solon,  the  Athenian  lawgiver,  is  supposed  to  have  travelled  into 
Egypt,"  about  six  hundred  years  before  Christ.  Plato's  time  was 
three  hundred  years  nearer  the  time  of  Christ,  who  has  mentioned 
the  travels  of  Solon  in  Egypt.  "  He  arrived  at  an  ancient  tem- 
ple on  the  Delta,  a  fertile  island  formed  by  the  Nile,  where  he 
held  a  conversation  with  certain  learned  priests,  on  the  antiquities 
of  remote  ages.  When  one  of  them  gave  Solon  a  description  of 
the  island  Atalantis,  and  also  of  its  destruction.  This  island,  said 
the  Egyptian  priest,  was  situated  in  the  Western  ocean,  opposite 
the  strait  of  Gibraltar  ;"  which  would  place  it  exactly  between  a 
part  of  Europe,  its  southern  end,  and  the  northern  part  of  Africa 
and  the  continent  of  America. 

<%  There  was,  said  the  priest,  an  easy  passage  from  this  to  other 
islands,  which  lay  adjacent  to  a  large  continent,  exceeding  in 
size  all  Europe  and  Asia."  Neptune  settled  in  this  island,  from 
whose  son  Atlas,  its  name  was  derived,  and  divided  it  between 
his  ten  sons,  who  reigned  there  in  regular  succession  for  many 
ages." 

From  the  time  of  Solon's  travels  in  Egypt,  which  was  six  hun- 
dred years  before  Christ,  we  find  more  than  seventeen  hundred 
years  up  to  the  flood  ;  so  that  time  enough  had  elapsed  since  the 
flood  to  justify  the  fact  of  the  island  having  existed,  and  also  of 
having  been  inhabited  and  destroyed  even  six  hundred  years  be- 
fore the  time  of  Solon;  which  would  make  the  time  of  its  destruc- 
tion twelve  hundred  years  before  Christ  ;  and  would  still  leave 
more  than  five  hundred  years  from  that  period  back  to  the  flood. 
So  that  if  King  Neptune  had  not  made  his  settlement  on  the  is- 
land Atalantis  till  two  hundred  years  after  the  flood,  there  would 
have  been  time  for  the  successive   reigns  of  each  of  the   rega 

I 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WE6T  85 

lines  of  his  sons,  amounting  to  three  hundred  years,  before  the 
time  of  its  envelopement  in  the  sea  ;  so  that  the  priest  was 
justified  in  using  the  term  antiquities,  when  he  referred  to  that 
catastrophe. 

"  They  made,  i.  e.  the  Atalantians,  irruptions  into  Europe  and 
Africa  ;  subduing  all  Lybia,  as  far  as  Egypt,  Europe,  and  Asia 
Minor.  They  were  resisted,  however,  by  the  Athenians,  and 
driven  back  to  their  Atlantic  territories."  If  they  were  resist- 
ed and  driven  back  by  the  Athenians,  the  era  of  the  existence 
of  this  island  is  easily  ascertained;  because  the  Athenians  settled 
at  Athens,  in  Greece,  fifteen  hundred  and  fifty-six  years  before 
Christ,  being  a  colony  from  Egypt,  under  their  conductor,  Ce- 
crops.  One  hundred  years  after  their  establishment  at  Athens, 
they  had  become  powerful,  so  as  to  be  able  to  take  a  political 
stand  among  the  nations  of  that  region,  and  to  defend  their  coun- 
try against  invasions.  Accordingly,  at  the  time  the  Atalantians 
were  repulsed  and  compelled  to  return  from  whence  they  came, 
was  in  the  year  fourteen  hundred  and  forty-three,  before  Christ, 
or  nearly  so. 

"Shortly  after  this,"  says  Plato,  "there  was  a  tremendous 
earthquake,  and  an  overflowing  of  the  sea,  which  continued  for  a 
day  and  night;  in  the  course  of  which,  the  vast  island  of  Atalan- 
tis,  and  all  its  splendid  cities  and  warlike  nations,  were  swallowed 
up,  and  sunk  to  the  bottom,  which,  spreading  its  waters  over  the 
chasm,  added  a  vast  region  of  water  to  the  Atlantic  ocean.  For 
a  long  time,  the  sea  was  not  navigable,  on  account  of  rocks  and 
shoals  of  mud  and  slime,  and  of  the  ruins  of  that  drowned  coun- 
try." 

At  the  period,  therefore,  of  the  existence  of  this  island,  a  land 
passage  to  America,  from  Europe  and  Africa,  was  practicable; 
also  by  other  islands,  some  of  which  are  still  situated  in  the  same 
direction — the  Azores,  Madeiras,  and  Tcneriffe  islands,  about 
twenty  in  number. 

For  this  story  of  the  island  Atalantis,we  are  indebted  to  Irving's 
Columbus,  a  popular  work  of  recent  date;  which  account  cannot 
be  denied  but  is  exceedingly  curious,  and  not  without  foundation 
of  probability.  Was  not  this  island  the  bridge,  so  called,  reaching 
from  America  to  Europe,  as  conjectured  by  Dr.  Robertson,  the 
historian,  but  was  destroyed  by  the  ocean,  as  he  supposes,  very 
far  back  in  the  ages  of  antiquity? 


$6  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

And  allusion  to  this  same  island,  Atalantis,  is  made  by  Enclid, 
who  flourished  about  three  hundred  years  before  Christ,  in  a  con- 
versation which  he  had  with  Anacharsis,  a  Scythian  philosopher 
of  the  same  age,  who  had,  in  search  of  knowledge,  travelled  from 
the  wilds  of  his  own  northern  regions,  to  Athens,  where  he  be- 
came acquainted  with  Euclid. 

Their  subject  was  the  convulsions  of  the  globe.  The  sea,  ac- 
cording to  every  appearance,  said  Euclid,  has  separated  Sicily 
from  Italy,  Eubcea  from  Bcetia,  and  a  number  of  other  islands 
from  the  continent  of  Europe.  We  are  informed,  continued  the 
philosopher,  that  the  waters  of  Pontus  Euxinus,(or  the  Black  sea,) 
having  been  long  enclosed  in  a  basin  or  lake,  shut  in  on  all  sides, 
and  continually  increasing  by  the  rivers  of  Europe  and  Asia,  rose 
at  length  above  the  highlands  which  surrounded  it,  forced  open 
the  passage  of  Bosphorus  and  Hellespont,  and  impetuously  rush- 
ing into  the  yEgian  or  Mediterranean  sea,  extended  its  limits  over 
the  surrounding  coasts. 

If  we  consult,  he  says,  mythology,  we  are  told  that  Hercules, 
whose  labors  have  been  confounded  with  those  of  nature,  separa- 
ted Europe  from  Africa;  by  which  is  meant,  no  doubt,  that  the 
Atlantic  ocean  destroyed  the  isthmus  which  once  united  those  two 
parts  of  the  earth,  and  opened  itself  a  communication  with  the 
Mediterranean  sea. 

Beyond  the  isthmus,  of  which  I  have  just  spoken,  said  Euclid, 
existed,  according  to  ancient  traditions,  an  island  as  large  as  Af- 
rica, which,  with  all  its  wretched  inhabitants,  was  swallowed  up 
by  an  earthquake. 

Here,  then,  is  another  witness,  of  great  weight,  besides  Solon 
and  Plato,  who  testifies  to  the  past  existence  of  the  island  of  Ata- 
lantis. 


Evidences  of  an  Ancient  Population  in  America,  different 
from  that  of  the  Indians. 

We  shall  now  attend  more  particularly  to  the  evidences  of  an 
ancient  population  in  this  country,  anterior  to  that  of  the  present 


AND    DISCOVERIS    IN    THE    WEST.  87 

race  oi  Indians,  afforded  in  the  discovery  of  forts,  mounds,  tu- 
muli, and  their  contents,  as  related  by  western  travellers,  and 
the  researches  of  the  Antiquarian  Society,  at  Cincinnati.  But 
before  we  proceed  to  an  account  of  the  traits  of  this  kind  of 
population,  more  than  already  given,  we  will  remark,  that, 
wherever  plats  of  ground,  struck  out  into  circles,  squares,  and 
avals,  are  found,  we  are  at  once  referred  to  an  era  when  a  peo- 
ple and  nation  existed  in  this  country,  more  civilized,  refined,  and 
given  to  architectural  and  agricultural  pursuits,  than  are  the  In- 
dians. 

It  is  well  known,  the  present  tribes  do  not  take  the  trouble  of 
materially  altering  the  face  of  the  ground,  to  accommodate  the 
erection  of  their  places  of  dwelling;  always  selecting  that  which 
is  already  fashioned  by  nature  to  suit  their  views;  using  the  earth 
where  they  build  their  towns,  as  they  find  it. 

In  a  deep  and  almost  hidden  valley,  among  the  mountains  of 
the  Alleghany,  on  the  road  from  Philadelphia  to  Pittsburg,  is  one 
of  those  solitary  memorials  of  an  exterminated  race.  It  is  hid 
amidst  the  profoundest  gloom  of  the  woods,  and  is  found  to  con- 
sist of  a  regular  circle,  a  hundred  paces  in  diameter.  This  is 
-equal  to  six  rods  and  four  paces,  and  twenty- two  rods  in  circum- 
ference. The  whole  plat  is  raised  above  the  common  level  of  the 
earth  around,  about  four  feet  high;  which  may  have  been  done  to 
carry  off  the  water,when  the  snows  melted,  or  when  violent  rains 
would  otherwise  have  inundated  their  dwellings,  from  the  sur- 
rounding hills. 

The  neighborhood  of  Brownville,  or  Redstone,  in  Pennsylvania, 
abounds  with  monuments  of  antiquity.  A  fortified  camp,  of  a 
very  complete  and  curious  kind,  on  the  ramparts  of  which  is  tim- 
ber of  five  feet  in  diameter,  is  found  near  the  town  of  Brownville. 
This  camp  contains  about  thirteen  acres,  enclosed  in  a  circle,  the 
elevation  of  which  is  seven  feet  above  the  adjoining  ground;  this 
was  a  Herculean  work.  Within  the  circle  a  pentagon  is  accu- 
rately described;  having  its  sides  four  feet  high,  and  its  angles 
uniformly  three  feet  from  the  outside  of  the  circle,  thus  leaving 
an  unbroken  communication  all  around.  A  pentagon  is  a  figure, 
having  five  angles  or  sides.  Each  side  of  the  pentagon  has  a 
postern  or  small  gateway,  opening  into  the  passage  between  it  and 
the  circle;  but  the  circle  itself  has  only  one  grand  gateway  out- 


88  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ward.  Exactly  in  the  centre  stands  a  mound  about  thirty  feet 
high,  supposed  to  have  been  a  place  of  observation.  At  a  small 
distance  from  this  place,  was  found  a  stone,  eight  feet  by  five,  on 
which  was  accurately  engraved  a  representation  of  the  whole 
work,  with  the  mound  in  the  centre;  whereon  was  the  likeness  of 
a  human  head,  which  signified  that  the  chief  who  presided  there 
lay  buried  beneath  it.  The  engraving  on  this  stone,  is  evidence 
of  the  knowledge  of  stone  cutting,  as  it  was  executed  with  a  con- 
siderable degree  of  accuracy. 

On  comparing  the  description  of  this  circular  monument  with  a 
description  of  works  of  a  similar  character,  found  in  Denmark, 
Sweden  and  Iceland,  the  conclusion  is  drawn,  that  at  some  era  of 
time  the  authors  of  this  kind  of  monumental  works,  in  either  of 
those  countries  have  been  the  same. 

"  They  are  called  Domh-ringr  by  the  Danes;  that  is,  literally^ 
doom-ring,  or,  circle  of  judgment;  being  the  solemn  place  where 
courts  were  held."  The  celebrated  Stonehenge,  in  England,  is 
built  after  the  same  fashion;  that  is,  in  a  circle,  and  is  of  Belgic 
origin,  the  second  class  of  English  antiquities,  the  era  of  which 
precedes  that  of  the  Romans  in  England;  which  would  throw  the 
time  of  their  first  erection  back  to  a  period  of  some  hundred  years 
before  Christ. 

"  Stonehenge. — This  noble  and  curious  monument  of  early 
times,  appears  to  have  been  formed  by  three  principal  circles  of 
stone,  the  outer  connected  together  by  an  uniform  pavement,  as 
it  were,  at  the  top,  to  which  the  chiefs  might  ascend  and  speak  to 
the  surrounding  crowd.  A  second  circle  consists  of  detached 
upright  stones,  about  five  feet  in  height,  while  the  highest  are 
eighteen.  Within  this  is  a  grand  oval,  consisting  of  five  huge 
stones,  crossed  by  another  at  the  top,  and  enclosing  smaller  stones, 
which  seem  to  have  been  seats,  and  a  large  flat  stone,  commonly 
called  the  altar,  but  which  seems  to  have  been  the  throne  or  seat 
of  judgment.  The  whole  of  the  above  described  monument,  with 
all  its  apparatus,  seems  to  be  enclosed  in  the  midst  of  a  very  ex- 
tensive circle,  or  embankment  of  earth,  sufficiently  large  to  hold 
an  immense  number — a  whole  tribe  or  nation." — (Morse.) 

After  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  the  west  of  Europe, 
which  was  sixty  years  after  Christ,  these  circles  of  judgment, 
which  had  been  polluted  with  human  sacrifices,  and  other  pagan 


AND   DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST-  89 

rites,  were  abandoned,  and  other  customs,  with  other  places  of 
resort,  were  instituted.  This  sort  of  antiquities,  says  Morse,  the 
geographer,  which  are  found  all  over  Europe,  are  of  this  charac- 
ter, that  is,  of  the  tumular  kind,  such  as  are  found  in  the  west  of 
our  own  country,  and  belong  entirely  to  the  first  era  of  the  settle- 
ments of  Europe. 

The  Druidic  temples  in  Europe  were  numerous,  and  some  of 
them  immense,  especially  one  in  the  isle  of  Lewis.  In  these  the 
gods  Odin,  Thor,  Freyga,  and  other  Gothic  deities,  were  adored; 
all  such  structures  were  enclosed  in  circles,  some  greater  and 
some  less,  according  to  their  importance,  or  the  numbers  of  those 
who  supported  them. 

The  same  kind  of  antiquities  are  fonnd  in  Ireland,  and  are  al- 
lowed to  be  of  Druidic  origin,  always  enclosed  in  circles,  whether 
a  simple  stone,  or  a  more  spacious  temple,  be  the  place  where 
they  worshipped  The  Scandinavians,  who  preceded  the  Norwe- 
gians some  hundred  years,  enclosed  their  rude  chapels  with  cir- 
cular intrenchments,  and  were  called  the  Dane's  Ratlis,  or  circu- 
lar intrenchments. 

"  In  the  first  ages  of  the  world,  after  the  flood  the  worship  of 
God  was  exceedingly  simple;  there  were  no  temples  nor  covered 
edifices  of  any  kind.  An  altar,  sometimes  a  single  stone,  some 
times  it  consisted  of  several,  and  at  other  times  merely  of  turf, 
was  all  that  was  necessary.  On  this  the  fire  was  lighted,  and  the 
sacrifice  offered/' — (Adam  Clarke.) 

Such  were  the  Druids  of  Europe,  whose  name  is  derived  from 
the  kind  of  forest  in  which  they  preferred  to  worship.  This  was 
the  oak,  which  in  the  Greek  is  expressed  by  the  word  druid,  whose 
worship  and  principles  extended  even  to  Italy,  among  the  Celtic 
nations,  and  is  celebratad  by  Virgil,  in  the  sixth  book  of  the 
JEneiad,  where  he  speaks  of  the  misletoe,  and  calls  it  the  golden 
branch,  without  which  no  one  could  return  from  the  infernal 
regions. 

The  misletoe,  an  account  of  which  may  please  the  reader,  is 
thus  described  by  Pliny,  who  flourished  about  a.  d.  23,  and  was  a 
celebrated  writer  on  natural  history,  and  most  learned  of  the  an- 
cient Romans: 

"The  Druids  hold  nothing  more  sacred  than  the  misletoe,  and 
the  tree  on  which  it  grows,  provided  it  be  the  oak.     They  make 


90  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

choice  of  groves  of  oak  on  this  account;  nor  do  they  perform  any 
-of  their  sacred  rites  without  the  leaves  of  those  trees.  And  when- 
ever they  find  it  on  the  oak,  they  think  it  is  sent  from  heaven, 
and  is  a  sign  that  God  himself  has  chosen  that  tree;  and  when- 
ever found,  is  treated  with  great  ceremony. 

"They  call  it  by  a  name  which,  in  their  language,  signifies 
the  curer  of  ills;  and  having  duly  prepared  their  feasts  and  sacri- 
fices under  the  tree,  they  bring  to  it  two  white  bulls.  The  priest, 
dressed  in  a  white  robe,  ascends  the  tree,  and  with  a  golden  prun- 
ing hook,  cuts  off  the  misletoe,  which  is  received  in  a  sagum,  or 
white  sheet.  Then  they  sacrifice  the  victims,  praying  that  God 
would  bless  his  own  gift  to  those  on  whom  he  has  bestowed  it." — 
(Clarke.) 


Discoveries  on  the  Muskingum. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  Fort  Harmer,  on  the  Muskingum,  oppo- 
site Marietta  on  the  Ohio,  were  discovered,  by  Mr.  Ash,  an  Eng" 
lish  traveller,  in  the  year  1826,  several  monuments  of  the  ancient 
nations. 

"  Having  made,  (says  this  traveller,)  arrangements  for  an  ab- 
scence  of  a  few  days  from  the  fort,  I  provided  myself  with  an  ex- 
cellent tinder  box,  some  biscuit  and  salt,  and  arming  my  Indian 
travelling  companion,  with  a  good  axe  and  rifle,  taking  myself 
a  fowling  piece,  often  tried,  and  my  faithful  dog,  I  crossed  the 
ferry  of  the  Muskingum,  having  learned  that  the  left  hand  side 
of  that  river  was  most  accessible  and  the  most  abundant  in  curi- 
osities and  other  objects  of  my  research."  In  another  part  of 
this  work  we  shall  describe  works  of  a  similar  sort,  on  the  oppo- 
site side  of  the  Muskingum,  as  given  by  the  Antiquarian  Society 
of  Ohio. 

"  On  traversing  the  valley  between  Fort  Harmer  and  the  moun- 
tains, I  determined  to  take  the  high  grounds,  and  after  some  diffi- 
culty, ascended  an  eminence  which  commanded  a  view  of  the 
town  of  Marietta,  and  of  the  river  up  and  down,  displaying  a 
great  distance  along  the  narrow  valley  of  the  Ohio,  cultivated 
plains,  the  gardens  and  popular  walks  of  that  beautiful  town. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  91 

"After  a  very  short  inspection,  and  cursory  examination,  it  was 
evident  that  the  very  spot  or  eminence  on  which  I  stood,  had  been 
occupied  by  the  Indians,  either  as  a  place  of  observation,  or  a 
strong  hold.  The  exact  summit  of  the  hill  I  found  to  be  artificial; 
it  expressed  an  oval,  forty-five  feet  by  twenty-three,  and  was 
composed  apparently  of  earth  and  stone,  though  no  stone  of  a  simi- 
lar character  appeared  in  that  place. 

The  base  of  the  whole  was  girded  round  about  by  a  wall  of 
earth,  in  a  state  of  too  great  decay  to  justify  any  calculation,  and 
the  whole  was  so  covered  with  heavy  timber,  that  I  despaired  of 
gaining  any  further  knowledge,  and  would  have  left  the  place, 
had  I  not  been  detained  by  my  Indian  companion,  whom  I  saw 
occupied  in  endavoring  to  introduce  a  pole  into  a  small  opening 
between  two  flat  stones,  near  the  root  of  a  tree,  which  grew  on 
the  very  summit  of  this  emience. 

"  The  stones  we  found  were  too  heavy  to  be  removed  by  the 
mere  power  of  hands.  Two  good  oak  poles  were  cut,  in  lieu  of 
levers  and  crows.  Clapping  these  into  the  orifice  first  dis- 
covered, we  weighed  a  large  flat  stone,  tilting  it  over,  when 
we  each  assumed  a  guarded  position,  in  silent  expectation  of 
hearing  the  hissing  of  serpents,  or  the  rustling  of  the  ground- 
hog's litter;  where  the  Indian  had  supposed  was  a  den  of  one  sort 
or  the  other. 

"  All  was  silent.  We  resumed  our  labor,  casting  out  a  num- 
ber of  stones,  leaves  and  earth,  soon  clearing  a  surface  of  seven 
feet  by  five,  which  had  been  covered  upwards  of  fifteen  inches 
deep,  with  flat  stones,  principally  lying  against  each  other,  with 
their  edges  to  the  horizon. 

"  On  the  surface  we  had  cleared,  appeared  another  difficulty, 
which  was  a  plain  superfices,  composed  of  but  three  flat  stones  of 
such  apparent  magnitude  that  the  Indian  began  to  think  that  we 
should  find  under  them  neither  snake  nor  pig;  but  having  once 
begun,  I  was  not  to  be  diverted  from  my  task. 

"  Stimulated  by  obstructions,  and  animated  with  other  views 
than  those  of  my  companion,  I  had  made  a  couple  of  hickory 
shovels  with  the  axe,  and  setting  to  work,  soon  undermined  the 
surface,  and  slid  the  stones  off  on  one  side,  and  laid  the  space 
open  to  view. 

"  I  expected  to  find  a  cavern:  my  imagination  was  warmed  by 


92  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

a  certain  design  I  thought  I  discovered  from  the  very  beginning; 
the  manner  the  stones  were  placed  led  me  to  conceive  the  exist- 
ence of  a  vault  filled  with  the  riches  of  antiquity,  and  crowded 
with  the  treasures  of  the  most  ancient  world. 

"  A  bed  of  sand  was  all  that  appeared  under  these  flat  stones, 
which  I  cast  off;  and  as  I  knew  there  was  no  sand  nearer  than 
the  bed  of  the  Muskingum,  as  design  was  therefore  the  more 
manifest,  which  encouraged  my  proceeding;  the  sand  was  about 
a  foot  deep,  which  I  soon  removed. 

"The  design  and  labor  of  man  was  now  unequivocal.  The 
space  out  of  which  these  materials  were  taken,  left  a  hollow  in  an 
oblong  square,  lined  with  stones  on  the  end  and  sides,  and  also, 
paved  on  what  appeared  to  be  the  bottom,  with  square  stones,  of 
about  nine  inches  diametei". 

"  I  picked  these  up  with  the  nicest  care,  and  again  came  to  a 
bed  of  sand,  which,  when  removed,  made  the  vault  about  three 
feet  deep,  presenting  another  bottom  or  surface,  composed  of 
small  square  cut  stones,  fitted  with  such  art,  that  I  had  much 
difficulty  in  discovering  many  of  the  places  where  they  met. 
These  displaced,  I  came  to  a  substance,  which,  on  the  most  criti- 
cal examination,  I  judged  to  be  a  mat,  or  mats,  in  a  state  of  en- 
tire decomposition  and  decay.  My  reverence  and  care  increased 
with  the  progress  already  made;  I  took  up  this  impalpable  powder 
with  my  hands,  and  fanned  ofF  the  remaining  dust  with  my  hat, 
when  there  appeared  a  beautiful  tesselated  pavement  of  small, 
colored  stones;  the  colors  and  stones  arranged  in  such  a  manner 
as  to  express  harmony  and  shades,  and  portraying,  at  full  length, 
the  figure  of  a  warrior  under  whose  feet  a  snake  was  exhibited 
in  ample  folds. 

"  The  body  of  the  figures  was  composed  of  dyed  woods,  bones, 
and  a  variety  of  small  bits  of  terrous  and  testaceous  substances, 
most  of  which  crumbled  into  dust  on  being  removed  and  exposed 
to  the  open  air. 

"  My  regret  and  disappointment  were  very  great,  as  I  had  flat- 
tered myself  that  the  whole  was  stone,  and  capable  of  being  taken 
up  and  preserved.  Little  more,  however,  than  the  actual  pave- 
ment could  be  preserved,  which  was  composed  of  flat  stones,  one 
inch  deep,  and  two  inches  square.  The  prevailing  colors  were 
white,  green,  dark  blue,  and  pale  spotted  red;  all  of  which  are 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  93 

peculiar  t©  the  lakes,  and  not  to  be  had  nearer  than  about  threo 
hundred  miles. 

'•  The  whole  was  ailixed  in  a  thin  layer  of  sand,  fitted  together 
with  great  precision,  and  covered  a  piece  of  bark  in  great  decay, 
whose  removal  exposed  what  1  was  fully  prepared  to  discover, 
from  all  previous  indications,  the  remains  of  a  human  skeleton, 
which  was  of  an  uncommon  magnitude,  being  seven  feet  in  length. 
With  the  skeleton  was  found,  first  an  earthen  vessel,  or  urn,  in 
which  were  several  bones,  and  some  white  sediment. 

"  The  urn  appeared  to  be  made  of  sand  and  flint  vitrified,  and 
rung,  when  struck,  like  glass,  and  held  about  two  gallons,  had  a 
top  or  cover  of  the  same  material,  and  resisted  fire  as  completely 
as  iron  or  brass.  Second;  a  stone  axe,  with  a  groove  round  the 
pole,  by  which  it  had  been  fastened  with  a  withe  to  the  handle. 
Third;  twenty-four  arrow  points,  made  of  flint  and  bone,  and 
lying  in  a  position  which  showed  they  had  belonged  to  a  quiver. 
Fourth;  a  quantity  of  beads,  but  not  of  glass,  round,  oval,  and 
square;  colored  green,  black,  white,  blue  and  yellow.  Fifth;  a 
very  large  conch  shell,  decomposed  into  a  substance  like  chalk; 
this  shell  was  fourteen  inches  long,  and  twenty-three  in  circum- 
ference. The  Hindoo  priests,  at  the  present  time,  use  this  sort 
of  shell  as  sacred.  It  is  blown  to  announce  the  celebration  of 
religious  festivals.  Sixth;  under  a  heap  of  dust  and  tenuous 
shreds  of  feathered  cloth  and  hair,  a  parcel  of  brass  rings,  cut 
out  of  a  solid  piece  of  metal,  and  in  such  a  manner  that  the  rings 
were  suspended  from  each  other,  without  the  aid  of  solder  or  any 
other  visible  agency  whatever.  Each  ring  was  three  inches  in 
diameter,  and  the  bar  of  the  rings  a  half  an  inch  thick,  and  were 
square;  a  variety  of  characters  were  deeply  engraved  on  the  sides 
of  the  rings,  resembling  the  Chinese  characters." 

Ward's  History  of  the  Hindoos,  page  41  and  56,  informs  us, 
that  the  god  Vishnoo  is  represented  holding  a  sea  shell  in  his  hand, 
called  the  "  sacred  shell;''  and,  second,  he  states,  that  "the  uten- 
sils employed  in  the  ceremonies  of  the  temple,  are  several  dishes 
to  hold  the  offerings,  a  hand  bell,  a  lamp,  jugs  for  holding  water, 
an  incense  dish,  a  copper  cup,  a  seat  of  Kooshu  grass,  for  the 
priests,  a  large  metal  plate,  used  as  a  bell."  Several  of  the  arti- 
cles found  buried  in  this  manner,  resemble  these  utensils  of  the 
Brahmin  priests,  while  some  are  exactly  like  them.     The  mat  of 


94  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Kooshu  grass  resembles  the  mat  of  hair  and  feathers;  the  earthen 
dish,  the  conch  shell,  are  the  very  same  in  kind;  the  brass  chain 
might  answer  instead  of  a  bell,  or  iron  plate  to  strike  against,, 
which  would  produce  a  jingling  sound.  A  quantity  of  round,  oval 
and  square  beads,  colored  variously,  were  found.  Although  Mr. 
Ward  does  not  say  that  beads  were  a  part  of  the  utensils  of  the 
Hindoo  priests,  yet  we  find  them  on  the  necks  and  arms  of  both 
their  gods  and  their  mendicants. 

Pottery,  of  the  same  kind  found  in  those  ancient  works,  have 
also  the  quality  of  enduring  the  fire.  The  art  of  making  vessels 
of  clay,  is  very  ancient;  we  find  it  spoken  of  by  Jeremiah,  the 
prophet,  nearly  three  thousand  years  ago. 

The  art  of  coloring  wood,  stones,  and  shells,  with  a  variety  of 
beautiful  tints,  was  also  known,  as  appears  from  the  pavement 
above  described,  and  the  colored  beads. 

In  many  parts  of  the  west,  paints  of  various  colors  have  been 
found  hidden  in  the  earth.  On  the  Chenango  river,  in  the  State 
of  New-York,  has  recently  been  found,  on  opening  of  one  of 
those  ancient  mounds,  though  of  but  small  dimensions,  three  kinds 
of  paint,  black,  red,  and  yellow;  which  are  now  in  the  posses- 
sion of  a  Dr.  Willard,  at  the  village  of  Greene,  in  the  county  of 
Chenango. 

The  Indians  of  both  China  and  America,  have,  from  time  im- 
memorial, used  paints  to  adorn  themselves  and  their  gods. 

But  the  brass  rings  and  tesselated  pavement,  are  altogether  the 
most  to  be  wondered  at.  A  knowledge  of  the  method  of  manufac- 
turing brass  was  known  to  the  antediluvians:  this  we  learn  from 
Genesis  iv.  22.  Tubal  Cain  was  an  artificer  in  brass  and  iron 
about  eleven  hundred  years  before  the  flood. 

But  how  this  article,  the  brass  chain,  of  such  curious  con- 
struction, came  in  the  possession  of  the  chief,  interred  on  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  is  a  question  to  be  answered,  it  would 
seem,  in  but  two  ways.  They  either  had  a  knowledge  of  the 
art  of  making  brass,  or  the  article  was  an  item  of  that  king's 
peculiar  treasure;  and  had  been  derived,  either  from  his  an- 
cestors, from  the  earliest  ages,  or  from  South  America,  as  an  ar- 
ticle of  trade,  a  gift  from  some  fellow  king,  or  a  trophy  of  some 
victorious  battle  over  some  Southern  nation  ;  for,  according  to 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  95' 

Humboldt,  brass  was  found  among  the  native  Mexicans,  in  great 
abundance. 

But  how  the  Mexicans  came  by  this  art  in  mineralogy,  is  equally 
a  question.  Gold,  silver,  copper,  &c,  are  the  natural  product  of 
their  respective  ores;  and  accident  may  have  made  them  acquaint- 
ed with  these;  as  iron  was  discovered  among  the  Greeks,  by  fire 
in  the  woods  having  melted  the  ore.  But  brass  is  farther  removed 
from  the  knowledge  of  man,  being  a  composition  of  copper  and 
the  calamine  stone,  or  ore  of  zinc.  However,  it  is  said  by  Morse, 
that  in  Chili,  in  the  hills  of  Huilquilemu,  are  found  mines  of  na- 
tive brass,  of  a  fine  yellow  color,  and  equally  malleable  with  the 
best  artificial  brass;  yet  this  is  no  common  product  of  mineralogy, 
and  would  seem  to  be  an  exception,  or  rather  a  product  extraordi- 
nary, and  in  a  measure  induces  a  belief  that  it  is  not  proper  brass, 
bat  a  metal  similar  only  in  complexion,  while  perhaps  its  chemi- 
cal properties  are  entirely  different,  or  it  may  have  been  produced* 
by  the  fusion  of  copper  and  the  ore  of  zicc,  by  the  fire  of  some 
volcano. 

Brass  was  the  metal  out  of  which  the  ancient  nations  made  all 
their  instruments  of  war,  and  defensive  armor.  The  reason  of 
this  preference  above  copper  and  iron,  even  by  the  Greeks  and 
Romans,  was  probably  on  account  of  the  excessive  bright  polish 
it  was  capable  of  receiving;  for  the  Greeks  and  Romans  used  it 
long  after  their  knowledge  of  iron.  Iron  was  discovered  by  the 
Greeks  1406  years  before  Christ.  The  ancient  Americans  must 
have  derived  a  knowledge  of  brass  from  their  early  acquaintance 
with  nations  immediately  succeeding  the  flood,  who  had  it  from 
the  antediluvians,  by  way  of  Noah;  and  having  found  their  way 
to  this  continent,  before  it  became  so  insulated  as  it  is  at  the  pre- 
sent time,  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  oceans,  made  use  of  the  same 
metal  here. 

But  the  tesselated  or  spotted  pavement  is  equally  curious  with 
the  brass  chain,  on  account  of  its  resemblance  to  the  Mosaic  pave- 
ments of  the  Romans;  being  small  pieces  of  marble,  of  various 
colors,  with  which  they  ornamented  the  fronts  of  their  tents  in  time 
of  war.  This  sort  of  pavement  is  often  dug  up  in  England,  and 
is  of  Roman  origin. 

We  find  the  history  of  the  ancient  Britons,  mentions  the  cur- 
rency of  iron  rings,  as  money,  which  was  in  use  among  them  be- 


96  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

fore  the  invasion  of  Julius  Ciesar.  Js  it  not  possible  that  the  brass 
chain,  or  an  assemblage  of  those  rings,  as  found  in  this  mound, 
may  have  been  held  among  those  ancients  of  America  in  the  same 
estimation?  The  chain,  in  their  mode  of  reckoning,  being  per- 
haps of  an  immense  amount,  its  being  found  deposited  with  its 
owner,  who  was  a  chief  or  king,  is  the  evidence  of  its  peculiar 
value,  whether  it  had  been  used  as  an  article  of  trade,  or  as  a 
sacred  implement. 

This  maculated  pavement,  arranged  in  such  a  manner  as  to 
represent,  in  full  size,  the  chief,  king,  or  monarch,  who  was  in- 
terred beneath  it,  shows  the  knowledge  that  people  had  of  paint- 
ing, sculpture,  and  descriptive  delineation;  but  most  of  all,  the 
serpent  which  lay  coiled  at  his  feet  is  surprising,  because  we  sup- 
pose this  transaction  could  not  have  happened  from  mere  caprice, 
or  the  sport  of  imagination. 

It  must  have  been  a  trait  of  their  theology,  and,  possibly,  an 
allusion  to  the  serpent,  by  whose  instrumentality  Satan  deceived 
rthe  first  woman,  the  mother  of  us  all ;  and  its  being  beneath  his 
feet,  may  also  have  alluded  to  the  promised  seed,  who  was  to 
bruise  the  serpent' 's  head — all  of  which  may  easily  have  been 
derived  from  the  family  of  Noah,  and  carried  along  with  the 
millions  of  mankind,  as  they  diverged  asunder  from  Mount 
Ararat,  around  the  earth.  The  Mexicans  are  found  to  have  a 
clear  notion  of  this  thing,  and  of  many  other  traits  of  the  early 
history  of  man,  as  related  in  the  Hebrew  records  and  the  Scrip- 
tures, preserved  in  their  traditions  and  paintings,  as  we  shall  show 
in  another  place. 

The  etching  on  the  square  sides  of  those  rings  of  brass,  in 
characters  resembling  the  Chinese,  shows  the  manufacturer, 
and  the  nation  of  which  he  was  a  member,  to  have  had  a  know- 
ledge of  engraving,  even  on  the  metals,  equal  with  artists  of  the 
present  time,  of  which  the  common  Indian  of  the  west  knows 
nothing. 

The  stone  hatchet,  flint,  and  bone  arrow-points,  found  in  this 
tomb,  are  no  exclusive  evidence  that  this  was  all  done  by  the  mo- 
dern Indians;  because  the  same  are  found  in  vast  profusion  in  all 
parts  of  the  old  world,  particularly  in  the  island  of  England,  and 
have  been  in  use  from  remotest  antiquity. 

We  are  very  far  from  believing  the  Indians  of  the  present  time 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  97 

to  be  the  most  ancient  aborigines  of  America;  but,  on  the  contra- 
ry, are  usurpers;  have,  by  force  of  bloody  warfare,  exterminated 
the  original  inhabitants,  taking  possession  of  their  country,  pro- 
perty, and,  in  some  kw  instances,  retaining  arts,  learned  of  those 
very  nations. 

The  immense  sea  shell,  which  was  fourteen  inches  long,  and 
twenty-three  inches  in  circumference,  found  in  this  tomb,  is  evi- 
dence of  this  people's  having  an  acquaintance  with  other  parts  of 
the  world  than  merely  their  oWn  dwellings,  because  the  shell  is  a 
marine  production,  and  the  nearest  place  where  this  element  is 
found  from  the  Muskingum,  is  nearly  a  thousand  miles  in  a 
straight  line  east  to  the  Atlantic. 

If  the  engravings  on  this  chain  be,  in  fact,  Chinese,  or  if  they 
bear  a  strong  and  significant  analogy  to  them,  it  justifies  the 
opinion  that  the  ancient  Americans  had  a  knowledge  of  letters. 
A  knowledge  of  letters  and  of  hieroglyphics  existed  before  the 
time  of  Moses,  as  among  the  Egyptians  and  Phoenicians,  but  also 
before  the  flood.  On  this  very  interesting  subject,  see  page  273 
of  this  work,  in  proof  of  the  above. 

Nations  of  men,  therefore,  having,  at  an  early  period,  found 
their  way  to  this  continent,  if  indeed  it  was  then  a  separate  con- 
tinent; consequently,  to  find  the.  remains  of  such  an  art,  scattered 
here  and  there  in  the  dust  and  ashes  of  the  nations  of  America 
passed  away,  is  not  surprising. 

The  mound  which  we  have  described  was  apprehended,  by  Mr. 
Ash,  to  be  only  an  advanced  guard-post,  or  a  place  of  look-out,  in 
the  direction  of  the  Muskingum  and  the  valley  of  the  Ohio.  Ac- 
cordingly, he  wandered  farther  into  the  woods  in  a  northwesterly 
direction,  leaving  on  his  right  the  Muskingum,  whose  course  was 
northeast  by  southwest.  His  research  in  that  direction  had  not 
long  been  continued  before  he  discovered  strong  indications  of  the 
truth  of  his  conjecture.  He  had  come  to  a  small  valley  between 
two  mountains,  through  which  a  small  creek  meandered  its  way 
to  the  Muskingum. 

On  either  side  of  the  stream  were  evident  traits  of  a  very  large 
settlement  of  antiquity.  They  consisted,  first,  of  a  wall  or  ram- 
part of  earth,  of  full  nine  feet  perpendicular  elevation,  and 
thirty  feet  across  the  base.  The  rampart  was  of  a  semi-circular 
form,  its  entire  circuit  being  three  hundred  paces,  or  something 

7 


98  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

over  eighteen  rods,  bounded  by  the  creek.  On  the  opposite  side 
of  the  stream  was  another  rampart  of  the  same  description,  evi- 
dently answering  to  the  first;  these,  viewed  together,  made  one 
grand  circle  of  more  than  forty  rods  circumference,  with  the 
creek  running  between. 

After  a  minute  examination,  he  perceived,  very  visibly,  the  re- 
mains of  elevated  stone  abutments,  which  being  exactly  opposite 
each  other,  suggested  the  belief  that  these  bridges  once  connected 
the  two  semi-circles;  one  in  the  centre,  and  one  on  either  side,  or 
the  extreme  edges  of  the  ring.  The  timber  growing  on  the  ram- 
part, and  within  the  circle,  was  principally  red  oak,  of  great  age 
and  magnitude.  Some  of  the  trees,  being  in  a  state  of  decay, 
were  not  less  than  seven  feet  in  diameter,  and  twenty-one  in  cir- 
cumference. 

Some  considerable  farther  up  the  brook,  at  the  spot  where  the 
beautiful  vale  commences,  where  the  mountain  rises  abruptly  and 
discharges  from  its  cleft  bosom  this  delightful  creek,  are  a  great 
number  of  mounds  of  earth,  standing  at  equal  distances  from 
each  other,  forming  three  grand  circles,  one  beyond  the  other, 
cut  in  two  by  the  creek,  as  the  one  described  before,  with 
streets  situated  between,  forming,  as  do  the  mounds,  complete  cir- 
cles. Here,  as  at  the  other,  the  two  half  circles  were  united,  as 
would  appear,  by  two  bridges,  the  abutments  of  which  are  still 
distinct. 

At  a  considerable  distance,  on  the  sides  of  the  mountain,  are 
two  mounds  or  barrows,  which  are  nearly  three  feet  long,  twelve 
high,  and  seventeen  wide  at  the  base.  These  barrows  are  com- 
posed principally  of  stone,  taken  out  of  the  creek,  on  which  are 
growing,  also,  very  heavy  timber.  Here  were  deposited  the  dead, 
who  had  been  the  inhabitants  of  the  town  in  the  vale.  From 
which  it  appears  that  the  mounds  forming  those  circles,  which 
were  sixty  in  number,  are  not  tumuli,  or  the  places  where 
chiefs  and  distinguished  warriors  were  entombed,  but  were  the 
houses,  the  actual  dwellings  of  the  people  who  built  them.  How- 
ever, the  distinguished  dead  were  interred  in  tumuli  of  the  same 
form  frequently,  but  much  more  magnificent  and  lofty,  and  are 
fewer  in  number,  situated  on  the  highest  grounds  adjacent  to  their 
towns. 

But  it  may  be  inquired,  how  could  those  mounds  of  earth  have 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  99 

ever  been  the  dwellings  of  families  ?  There  is  but  one  way 
to  explain  it.  They  may  have,  at  the  time  of  their  construc- 
tion, received  their  peculiar  form,  which  is  a  conical,  sugar-loaf 
form,  by  the  erection  of  long  poles,  or  logs,  set  up  in  a  circle 
at  the  bottom,  and  broug*ht  together  at  the  top,  with  an  opening, 
so  that  the  smoke  might  pass  out.  Against  this,  the  earth  (be- 
ing brought  from  a  distance,  so  as  not  to  disturb  the  even  sur- 
face of  the  spot  chosen  to  build  on,)  was  thrown,  till  the  top  and 
sides  were  entirely  enveloped.  This  operation  would  naturally 
cause  the  bottom,  or  base,  to  be  of  great  thickness,  caused  by 
the  natural  sliding  down  of  the  earth,  as  it  was  thrown  on  or 
against  the  timbers;  and  this  thickness  would  be  in  exact  propor- 
tion with  the  height  of  the  poles,  at  the  ratio  of  an  angle  of  forty- 
five  degrees. 

In  this  way,  a  dwelling  of  the  most  secure  description  would  be 
the  result;  such  as  could  not  be  easily  broken  through,  nor  set  on 
fire;  and  in  winter  would  be  warm,  and  in  summer  cool.  It  is 
true,  such  rooms  would  be  rather  gloomy,  compared  with  the 
magnificent  and  well  lighted  houses  of  the  present  times,  yet  ac- 
corded well  with  the  dark  usages  of  antiquity,  when  mankind 
lived  in  clans  and  tribes,  but  few  in  number,  compared  with  the 
present  populousness  of  the  earth,  and  stood  in  fear  of  invasion 
from  their  neighbors,  in  a  state  of  perpetual  distrust. 

Such  houses  as  these,  built  in  circles  of  wood  at  first,  and  lastly 
of  stone,  as  the  knowledge  of  architecture  came  on,  were  used  by 
the  ancient  inhabitants  of  Britain,  Wales,  Scotland,  and  Ireland, 
and  on  the  continent,  as  in  Norway.  No  mode  of  building  which 
can  be  conceived  of,  would  more  effectually  shut  out  the  wind. 
44  Houses  of  this  form,  made  with  upright  stones,  are  even  now 
common  over  all  the  Danish  dominions." — ( See  Morse's  Geogra- 
phy, vol.  1,  p.  158.) 

In  the  communication  of  Mr.  Moses  Fiske,  of  Ilillham,  Ten- 
nessee, to  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  1815,  respecting 
the  remains  and  discoveries  made  relative  to  antiquities  in  the 
west,  but  especially  in  Tennessee,  says,  that  the  description  of 
mounds,  whether  round,  square  or  oblong  in  their  shapes,  which 
have  flat  tops,  were  the  most  magnificent  sort,  and  seemed  con- 
trived for  the  purpose  of  building  temple?  and  castles  on  the;: 

1* 


100  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

summits;  which,  being  thus  elevated,  were  very  imposing,  and 
might  be  seen  at  a  great  distance. 

"  Nor  must  we,"  he  continues,  "  mistake  the  ramparts  or  for- 
tifications, for  farming  enclosures;  what  people,  savage,  or  civil- 
ized, ever  fenced  their  grounds  so  preposterously,  bearing  no  pro- 
portion in  quantity  necessary  for  tillage;"  from  which  the  support 
of  a  whole  country  was  expected;  and  further,  there  were  many 
neighborhoods  which  had  no  such  accommodations. 

He  has  also  discovered,  that  within  the  areas  encompassed  by 
these  ramparts,  are  whole  ranges  of  foundations,  on  which  dwell- 
ing houses  once  stood,  with  streets  running  between,  besides  mounds 
and  other  works. 

"  The  houses  generally  stood  in  rows,  nearly  contiguous  to  each 
other,"  as  in  all  compact  towns  and  cities,  though  sometimes  they 
stood  in  an  irregular  and  scattered  manner.  These  foundations 
"  are  indicated  by  rings  of  earth,  from  three  to  five  fathoms 
in  diameter,"  which  is  equal  to  eighteen  by  thirty  feet.  The  re- 
mains of  these  rings  or  foundations  are  from  ten  to  twenty  inches 
high,  and  a  yard  or  more  broad.  But  they  were  not  always  cir- 
cular ;  some  of  which  he  had  noticed  were  square,  and  others, 
also,  of  the  oblong  form,  as  houses  are  now  built  by  civilized  na- 
tions. 

"  The  flooring  of  some  is  elevated  above  the  common  level  or 
surface  ;  that  of  others  is  depressed.  These  tokens  are  indubita- 
ble, and  overspread  the  country  ;  some  scattered  and  solitary,  but 
oftner  in  groups,  like  villages,  with  and  without  being  walled  in." 
From  which  it  is  clear,  that  whoever  they  were,  the  pursuits  of 
agriculture  were  indispensable,  and  were  therefore  in  use  with 
those  nations. 

But  as  it  respects  the  houses  of  earth,  as  found  in  the  vale 
above  noticed,  on  the  creek  running  into  the  Muskisgum  ;  we 
can  show  from  the  writings  of  Vetruvius,  who  wrote  on  the  sub- 
ject of  architecture  in  the  time  of  Julim  Ccesar,  that  this  is  not 
the  only  circumstance  of  the  kind  ;  as  follows: 

"  At  first,  for  the  walls,  men  erected  forked  stakes,  and  dis- 
posing twigs  between  them,  covered  them  with  loam;  others  pulled 
up  clods  of  hay,  binding  them  with  wood,  and  to  avoid  rain  and 
heat,  they  made  a  covering  with  reeds  and  boughs  ;  but  finding 
that  this  roof  could  not  resist  the  winter  rains  they  made  it  slop- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    WEST.  101 

ing,  pointed  at  the  top,  plastering  it  over  with  clay,  and  by  that 
means  discharging  the  rain  water.  To  this  day,  (say  Vetruviua,) 
some  foreign  nations  construct  their  dwellings  of  the  same  kind 
of  materials,  as  in  Gaul,  Spain,  Lusitania,  and  Aquitain.  The 
Colchins,  in  the  kingdom  of  Portugal,  where  they  abound  in 
forests,  fix  trees  in  the  earth,  close  together  in  ranks^  to  the  right 
and  left,  leaving  as  much  space  between  them,  from  corner  to 
corner,  as  the  length  of  the  trees  will  permit  ;  upon  the  ends  of 
these,  at  the  corners,  others  are  laid  transversely,  which  circum- 
clude  the  place  of  habitation  in  the  middle  ;  then  at  the  top,  the 
four  angles  are  braced  together  with  alternate  beams.  The  cre- 
vices, which  are  large,  on  account  of  the  coarsenesss  of  the  ma- 
terials, are  stopped  with  chips  and  loam.  The  roof  is  also  raised 
by  beams  laid  across  from  the  extreme  angles,  or  corners,  gradu- 
ally rising  from  the  four  sides  to  the  middle  point  at  the  top,  (ex- 
actly like  a  German  barrack,)  and  then  covered  with  boughs  and 
earth.  In  this  manner  the  barbarians,  (says  this  author,)  made 
their  roofs  to  their  towers."'  By  the  barbarians  he  means  the  in- 
habitants of  Europe,  at  the  time  when  he  wrote  these  remarks, 
which  was  in  the  reign  of  Julius  Ceesar  a  short  time  before  Christ. 

"  The  Phrygians,  who  inhabit  a  champaign  country,  being  des- 
titue  of  timber,  selected  natural  hills,  excavate  them  by  diging  an 
entrance,  and  widen  the  space  within  as  much  as  the  nature  of  the 
place  will  permit.  Above,  they  fix  stakes  in  a  pyramidal  form, 
bind  them  together,  and  cover  them  with  reeds  or  straw,  heaping 
thereon  great  piles  of  earth.  This  kind  of  covering  renders  them 
very  warm  in  winter  and  cool  in  summer.  Some  also  cover  the 
roofs  of  their  huts  with  weeds  of  lakes;  and  thus,  in  all  countries 
and  nations,  primeval  dwellings  are  formed  upon  similar  princi- 
ples.'-— (Blake's  Atlas,  p.  145.  j 

Having  this  knowledge  of  the  mode  of  ancient  building,  we  are 
led  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  town  which  we  have  just  given  an 
account  of,  was  a  clan  of  some  of  the  ancient  Celtic  nations,  who, 
by  some  means,  had  found  their  way  to  this  part  of  the  earth,  and 
had  fixed  their  abode  in  this  secluded  valley. 

Celtic  or  Irish,  as  Mr.  Morse  says,  who  were  derived  from  Gaul 
or  Galatia,  which  is  now  France,  who  descended  from  Gomer, 
one  of  the  sons  of  Japheth,  a  son  of  Noah;  to  whose  descendants 
Europe,  with  its  isles,  was  given.  And  whether  the  people  who 
built  this  town  were  of  Chinese  or  Celetic  origin,,   it  is  much  the 


102  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

same;  because,  if  we  go  far  enough  back  in  ages  of  past  time, 
we  shall  find  they  were  of  the  same  origin,  and  had  equal  oppor- 
tunities to  perpetuate  a  remembrance  of  the  arts,  as  known  among 
men  immediately  after  the  flood,  and  might  therefore  resemble 
each  other  in  their  works. 

Here,  we  may  suppose,  the  gods  Odin,  Thor,  and  Frige,  were 
adored  under  the  oaks  composing  American  forests,  as  taught  by 
the  Druids  ;  here  their  victims,  the  deer  and  buffalo,  sent  up  to 
the  skies  their  smoking  odor  from  the  altar  of  sacrifice,,  while  the 
priests  of  the  forest  invoked  the  blessing  of  the  beneficent  Being 
upon  the  votaries  of  the  mystic  mistletoe.  Here  were  the  means 
of  mutual  defence  and  safety  discussed;  the  sighs  of  the  lover 
breathed  on  the  winds;  parents  and  children  looked  with  kindness 
on  each  other;  soothed  and  bound  the  wounds  of  such  as  return- 
ed from  the  uncertain  fate  of  clanular  battles;  but  have  been  swept 
with  the  besom  of  extermination  from  this  vale,  while  no  tongue 
remains  to  tell  the  story  of  their  sufferings. 

At  the  distance  of  about  three  miles  higher  up,  and  not  far  from 
the  Muskingum,  says  Mr.  Ash,  he  perceived  an  eminence  very 
similar  to  the  one  just  described,  in  which  the  brass  chain  was 
found,  to  which  he  hastened,  and  immediately  perceived  their  like- 
ness in  form. 

On  a  comparison  of  the  two,  there  could  be  but  one  opinion, 
namely,  that  both  were  places  of  lookout,  for  the  express  protection 
of  the  settlement  in  the  valley.  He  says  he  took  the  pains  of 
clearing  the  top  of  the  eminence,  but  could  not  discover  any  stone 
or  mark  which  might  lead  to  a  supposition  of  its  being  a  place  of 
interment.  The  country  above  was  hilly,  yet  not  so  high  as  to 
intercept  the  view  for  a  presumed  distance  of  twenty  miles. 

On  these  eminences  the  beacon  fires  of  the  clan  who  resided  in 
the  valley  may  have  been  kindled  at  the  hour  of  midnight,  to  show 
those  who  watched  the  portentous  flame,  the  advance  or  destruc- 
tion of  an  enemy.  Such  fires,  on  the  heights  of  Scotland,  were 
wont  to  be  kindled  in  the  days  of  Bruce  and  Wallace,  and  ages 
before  their  time,  originated  from  the  Persians,  possibly,  who 
worshipped  in  this  way  the  great  Oramaze,  as  the  god  who  made 
all  things.  The  idea  of  a  Creator  was  borrowed  from  Noah,  who 
received  the  account  of  the  creation  from  Seth,  who  had  it  from 
Adam,  and  Adam  from  the  Almighty  himself. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  103 

From  this  excursion,  our  traveller,  after  having  returned  to 
Marietta,  pursued  his  way  to  Zanesville,  on  the  Muskingum  river, 
where,  learning  from  the  inhabitants  that  the  neighborhood  was 
surrounded  with  the  remains  of  antiquity,  he  proceeded  to  the  ex- 
amination of  them,  having  obtained  a  number  of  persons  to  ac- 
company him  with  the  proper  implements  of  excavation.  They 
penetrated  the  woods  in  a  westerly  direction,  to  a  place  known  to 
those  who  accompanied  him,  about  five  miles  distance,  where  the 
ruins  of  ancient  times  were  numerous  and  magnificent  in  the  high- 
est degree  ;  consisting  of  mounds,  barrows  and  ramparts,  but  of 
such  variety  and  form,  and  covering  so  immense  a  track  of  ground 
that  it  would  have  taken  at  least  ten  days  to  have  surveyed  them 
minutely. 

These  immense  works  of  the  ancients,  it  appears,  were,  in  this 
place,  encompassed  by  outlines  of  an  entirely  different  shape  from 
any  other  described,  being  of  the  triangular  form,  and  occupying 
the  whole  plain,  situated  as  the  one  before  described,  in  a  place 
nearly  surrounded  by  mountains. 

But  we  pass  over  many  incidents  of  this  traveller,  and  come 
immediately  to  the  object  of  his  research,  which  was  to  open  such 
of  those  mounds  as  might  attract  his  attention.  His  first  opera- 
tion was  to  penetrate  the  interior  of  a  large  barrow,  situated  at 
one  extremity  of  the  vale,  which  was  its  southern.  Three  feet 
below  the  surface  was  fine  mould,  underneath  which  were  small 
flat  stones,  lying  in  regular  strata  or  gravel",  brought  from  the 
mountain  in  the  vicinity.  This  last  covered  the  remains  of  a  hu- 
mane frame,  which  fell  into  powder  when  touched  and  exposed  to 
air. 

Towards  the  base  of  the  barrow,  he  came  to  three  tiers  of  sub- 
stances, placed  regularly  in  rotation.  And  as  these  formed  two 
rows  four  deep,  separated  by  little  more  than  a  flag  stone  between 
the  feet  of  one  and  the  head  of  another,  it  was  supposed  the  bar- 
row contained  about  2000  human  skeletons,  in  a  very  great  state 
of  decay,  which  shows  their  extreme  antiquity. 

In  this  search  was  found  a  well  carved  stone  pipe,  expressing  a 
bear's  head,  together  with  some  fragments  of  pottery,  of  fine  tex- 
ture. Near  the  centre  of  the  whole  works,  another  opening  was 
effected,  in  a  rise  of  ground,  scarcely  higher  than  a  natural  un- 
dulation, common  to  the  general  surface  of  the  earth,   even  on 


104  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ground  esteemed  to  be  level.  But  there  was  one  singularity  ac- 
companying the  spot,  which  attracted  the  attention  of  the  company, 
and  this  was,  there  was  neither  shrub  nor  tree  on  the  spot, 
although  more  than  ninety  feet  in  circumference,  but  was  adorn- 
ed with  a  multitude  of  fink  and  purple  flowers. 

They  came  to  an  opinion  that  the  rise  of  ground  was  artificial, 
and  as  it  differed  in  form  and  character  from  the  common  mounds, 
they  resolved  to  lay  it  open,  which  was  soon  done,  to  a  level  with 
the  plain,  but  without  the  discovery  of  any  thing  whatever.  But 
as  Ash  had  become  vexed,  having  found  nothing  to  answer  his 
expectations  in  other  openings  on  the  spot,  he  jumped  from  the 
bank,  in  order  to  take  a  spade,  and  encourage  the  men  to  dig 
somewhat  deeper.  At  this  instant  the  ground  gave  way,  and  in- 
volved the  whole  company  in  ruin,  as  was  supposed  for  the  mo- 
ment, but  was  soon  followed  by  much  mirth  and  laughter,  as  no 
person  was  hurt  by  the  fall,  which  was  but  about  three  feet. 

Ash  had  great  difficulty  to  prevail  on  any  person  to  resume  the 
labor,  and  had  to  explore  the  place  himself,  and  sound  it  with  a 
pole,  before  any  man  would  venture  to  aid  him  further,  on  ac- 
count of  their  fright. 

But  they  soon  resumed  their  courage,  and  on  examination  found 
that  a  parcel  of  timbers  had  given  way,  which  covered  the  orifice 
of  a  hole  seven  feet  by  four,  and  four  feet  deep.  That  it  was  a 
sepulchre,  was  unanimously  agreed,  till  they  found  it  in  vain  to 
look  for  bones,  or  any  substance  similar  to  them,  in  a  state  of  de- 
composition. They  soon,  however,  struck  an  object  which  would 
neither  yield  to  the  spade,  nor  emit  any  sound  ;  but  persevering 
still  further,  they  found  the  obstruction  which  was  uniform  through 
the  pit,  to  proceed  from  rows  of  large  spherical  bodies,  at  first 
•taken  to  be  stones. 

Several  of  them  were  cast  up  to  the  surface;  they  were  exactly 
alike,  perfectly  round,  nine  inches  in  diameter,  and  of  about 
twenty  pounds  weight.  The  superfices  of  one,  when  cleaned  and 
scraped  with  knives,  appeared  like  a  ball  of  base  metal,  so  strong- 
ly impregnated  with  the  dust  of  gold,  that  the  baseness  of  the  metal 
itself  was  nearly  altogether  obscured.  On  this  discovery,  the 
clamour  was  so  great,  and  joy  so  exuberant,  that  no  opinion  but 
one  was  admitted,  and  no  voice  could  be  heard,  while  the  cry  of 
"  'tis  gold!  'tis  gold!"  resounded  through  the  groves. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  105 

Having  to  a  man  determined  on  this  important  point,  they  form- 
ed a  council  respecting  the  distribution  of  the  treasure,  and  each 
individual,  in  the  joy  of  his  heart,  declared  publicly  the  use  he  in- 
tended to  make  of  the  part  allotted  to  his  share. 

The  Englishman  concluded  that  he  would  return  to  England, 
being  sure,  from  experience,  that  there  was  no  country  like  it.  A 
German  of  the  party  said,  he  would  never  have  quitted  the  Rhine, 
had  he  had  money  enough  to  rebuild  his  bam,  which  was  blown 
down  by  a  high  wind  ;  but  that  he  would  return  to  the  very  spot 
from  whence  he  came,  and  prove  to  his  neighbors  that  he  loved 
his  country  as  well  as  any  man,  when  he  had  the  means  of  doing 
well.  An  Irishman  swore  a  great  oath,  the  day  longer  he'd  stay 
in  America;  and  the  Indian  who  accompanied  Ash,  appeared  to 
think,  that  were  he  to  purchase  some  beads,  rum  and  blankets, 
and  return  to  his  own  nation,  he  might  become  Sachem,  and  keep 
the  finest  squaws  to  be  found. 

Even  Ash  himself  saw  in  the  treasure  the  sure  and  ample  means 
of  continuing  his  travels  in  such  parts  of  the  earth  as  he  had  not 
yet  visited.  The  company  returned  to  Zanesville  with  but  one 
ball  of  their  riches,  while  they  carefully  hid  the  residue,  till  they 
should  subject  it  to  the  ordeal  of  fire. 

They  soon  procured  a  private  room,  where,  while  it  was  receiv- 
ing the  trial  of  fire,  they  stood  around  in  silence  almost  dreading 
to  breathe.  The  dreadful  element,  which  was  to  confirm  or  con- 
sume their  hopes,  soon  began  to  exercise  its  various  powers.  In 
a  few  moments  the  ball  turned  black,  filled  the  room  with  sulphu- 
rous smoke,  emitted  sparks  and  intermittent  flames,  and  burst  into 
ten  thousand  pieces;  so  great  was  the  terror  and  suffocation,  that 
all  rushed  into  the  street,  and  gazed  on  each  other,  with  a  mixed 
expression  of  doubt  and  astonishment. 

The  smoke  subsided,  when  they  were  able  to  discover  the  ele- 
ments of  the  supposed  gold,  which  consisted  of  some  very  fine 
ashes,  and  a  great  quantity  of  cinders,  exceedingly  porous  ;  the 
balls  were  nothing  but  a  sort  of  metal  called  spririte  or  pyrites, 
composed  of  sulphur  and  iron,  and  abounds  in  the  mountains  of 
that  region. 

The  triangular  form  of  this  enclosure,  being  different  from  the 
general  form  of  those  ancient  works,  is  perhaps  worthy  of  notice, 
merely  on  the  account  of  its  form;  and  might  be  supposed   to  be 


106  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

of  Chinese  origin,  as  it  is  well  known  that  the  triangular  shape  is 
a  favorite  one  of  the  nations  of  Hindostan;  it  is  even  in  the  Hin- 
doo theology,  significant  of  the  Trinity,  of  their  great  Brahma,  or 
god;  and  on  this  account,  might  even  characterise  the  form  of  na- 
tional works  such  as  we  have  just  described,  under  the  notion,  that 
the  divine  protection  would  the  more  readily  be  secured.  "  One 
of  the  missionaries  at  Pekin,"  says  Adam  Clarke,  "  takes  it  for 
granted,  that  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity  was  known  among  the 
ancient  Chinese,  as  that  this  A  character  was  its  symbol.  It  is  re- 
markable that  Moses  and  the  prophets,  the  ancient,  Chaldee,  Tar- 
gumists,  the  authors  of  the  Zend  Avesta,  a  Chinese  book,  Plato,  a 
celebrated  philosopher  of  antiquity,  who  died  at  Athens,  348  years 
B.  C,  and  also  the  first  philosopher  of  Greece,  and  Philo  the  Jew, 
should  all  coincide  so  perfectly  in  their  ideas  of  a  Trinity  in  the 
Godhead.  This  could  not  be  the  effect  of  accident.  The  patri- 
archs, Moses  and  the  prophets  received  this  from  God  himself;  and 
all  others  have  borrowed  from  this  first  origin." 

For  what  use  the  balls  of  which  we  have  given  an  account 
were  designed,  is  impossible  to  conjecture,  whether  to  be  thrown 
by  means  of  engines,  as  practised  by  the  Romans,  as  an  instru- 
ment of  warfare,  or  a  sort  of  medium  in  trade,  or  were  used 
as  instruments,  in  athletic  games,  either  to  roll  or  heave,  who 
can  tell? 

But  one  thing  respecting  them  is  not  uncertain,  they  must  have 
been  of  great  value,  or  so  much  labor  and  care  would  not  have 
been  expended  to  secure  them.  Colonel  Ludlow,  of  Cincinnati, 
a  man,  it  is  said,  who  was  well  versed  in  the  history  of  his 
country,  though  now  deceased,  was  indefatigable  in  his  researches 
after  the  antiquities  of  America,  discovered  several  hundreds  of 
those  balls  of  pyrites,  weighing  generally  about  twenty  pounds 
each,  near  an  old  Indian  settlement,  on  the  banks  of  the  Little 
Miami,  of  the  Ohio,  and  also  another  heap  in  an  artificial  cave, 
on  the  banks  of  the  Sciota,  consisting  of  copper  pyrites,  or 
quartz. 

In  that  division  of  South  America,  called  Patagonia,  which  ex- 
tends nearly  to  the  extreme  southern  point  of  that  country,  is 
found  a  people,  denominated  Patagonians,  who  are  of  a  mon- 
strous size  and  height,  measuring  from  six  to  seven  feet,  many 
of  them  approaching  to  eight.     Among  this  people  is  found  an 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  107 

instrument  of  war  made  of  heavy  stones,  wore  round  by  fric- 
tion; so  that  in  appearance,  they  are  like  a  cannon  ball.  These 
they  contrive  to  fasten  in  a  sling,  from  which  they  throw  them 
with  great  dexterity  and  force. — Morse's  Geography. 

This  kind  of  ball  was  used,  though  of  a  smaller  size,  to  capture 
and  kill  animals  with.  The  manner  of  using  them  is  as  follows: 
They  take  three  of  those  balls,  two  of  them  three  inches,  and  one 
of  them  two  inches  in  diameter.  The  hunter  takes  the  small  ball 
in  his  left  hand,  and  swings  the  other  two,  (which  are  connected 
by  a  thong  of  a  proper  length,  to  the  one  in  his  hand)  round  his 
head,  till  a  sufficient  velocity  is  acquired,  at  the  same  time  taking 
aim,  when  they  are  thrown  at  the  legs  of  the  animal  he  is  pur- 
suing, in  such  a  manner  as  to  entangle  its  feet  by  the  rotary 
motion  of  the  balls;  so  that  its  capture  is  easy. 

Conjecture  might  go  on  to  establish  it  as  a  fact,  that  these  balls 
of  pyrites,  found  in  many  parts  of  the  west,  were  indeed  a  war- 
like instrument,  thrown  by  a  sling,  out  of  which,  a  force  almost 
equivalent  to  that  of  powder,  might  be  acquired  ;  and  from  the 
top  of  mounds,  or  from  the  sides  of  their  elevated  forts,  such  a 
mode  of  defence  would  be  very  terrible. 

This  mode  of  fighting  was  known  to  the  Hebrews.  David  slew 
Goliah  with  a  stone  from  a  sling.  Seven  hundred  chosen  men 
out  of  Gibea,  could  sling  a  stone  at  an  hair's  breadth.  Job  speaks 
of  this  manner  of  annoying  wild  beasts,  where  he  is  recounting 
the  strength  of  Leviathan:  "  Slinged  stones  are  turned  with  him 
into  stubble." 

Dr.  Adam  Clarke's  observation  on  the  use  and  force  of  the 
sling,  are  very  interesting,  and  pertinent  to  the  subject.  They 
are  found  in  his  Commentary,  1st  Samuel,  chap.  xvii.  verse  40, 
11  The  sling,  both  among  the  Greeks  and  Hebrews,  has  been  a 
most  powerful,  offensive  weapon.  It  is  composed  of  two  strings 
and  a  leather  strap;"  (or  as  among  the  Patagonians,  of  raw-hide,) 
"  the  strap  is  in  the  middle,  and  is  the  place  where  the  stone  or 
bullet  lies.  The  string  on  one  end  of  the  strap  is  firmly  fastened 
to  the  hand;  that  on  the  other,  is  held  between  the  thumb  and  mid- 
dle joint  of  the  fore  finger.  It  is  then  whirled  two  or  three  times 
round  the  head;  and  when  discharged,  the  finger  and  thumb  let 
go  their  hold  of  the  string.  The  velocity  and  force  of  the  sling 
is  in  proportion  to  the  distance   of  the  strap   to  where  the  bullet 


108  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

lies,  from  the  shoulder  joint.  Hence,  the  ancient  Balleares,  or 
inhabitants  of  Majorca  and  Minorca,  islands  in  the  Mediterranean 
sea,  near  the  coast  of  Spain,  are  said  to  have  had  three  slings 
of  different  lengths  ;  the  longest  they  used  when  the  enemy  was 
at  the  greatest  distance;  the  middle  one  on  their  nearer  approach, 
and  the  shortest,  when  they  came  into  the  ordinary  fighting  dis- 
tance in  the  field.  The  shortest  is  the  most  certain,  though  not 
the  most  powerful. 

"  The  Balleareans  are  said  to  have  one  of  their  slings  con- 
stantly bound  about  their  head;  to  have  used  the  second  as  a 
girdle;  and  to  have  carried  the  third  always  in  their  hand. 

"  In  the  use  of  the  sjing,  it  requires  much  practice  to  hit  the 
mark;  but  when  once  this  dexterity  is  acquired,  the  sling  is  nearly 
as  fatal  as  the  ball  thrown  by  the  explosion  of  powder. 

"  David  was  evidently  an  experl  marksman;  and  his  sling  gave 
him  greatly  the  advantage  over  Goliah;  an  advantage  of  which 
the  giant  does  not  seem  to  have  been  aware.  He  could  hit  him 
within  any  speaking  distance;  if  he  missed  once,  he  had  as  many 
chances  as  he  had  stones;  and  after  all,  being  unincumbered  with 
armor,  young  and  athletic,  he  could  have  saved  his  life  by  flight. 
But  David  saved  himself  the  trouble  of  running  away,  or  the  giant 
from  throwing  his  spear  or  javelin  at  him,  by  giving  him  the  first 
blow,  which  placed  something  more  solid  in  his  brain  than  he  had 
been  accustomed  to. 

"  Goliah  was  terribly  armed,  having  a  spear,  a  shield,  and  a 
sword;  besides,  he  was  every  where  invulnerable,  on  account  of 
his  helmet  of  brass,  his  coat  of  mail,  which  was  made  also  of 
brass,  in  little  pieces,  about  the  size  of  a  half  dollar,  and  lapped 
over  each  other,  like  the  scales  of  fishes,  so  that  no  sword,  spear, 
nor  arrow  could  hit  him." 

This  coat  of  mail,  when  polished  and  bright,  was  very  glorious 
to  look  upon,  especially  when  the  sun,  in  his  brightness,  bent  his 
beams  to  aid  the  giant  warrior's  fulgent  habiliments  to  illumine 
the  field  of  battle,  as  the  wearer  strode,  here  and  there,  among 
the  trophies  of  his  arm. 

The  only  spot  left,  where  he  could  be  hit  to  advantage,  was 
his  broad  giant  forehead,  into  which  the  stone  of  David  sunk, 
from  its  dreadful  impetus  received  from  the  simple  sling.  To 
some,  this  has  appeared  perfectly  improbable;  but  we  are  assured 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  109 

by  ancient  writers,  that  scarcely  any  thing  could  resist  the  force 
of  the  sling. 

Diodorus  Siculus,  an  historian  who  flourished  in  the  time  of 
Julius  Caesar,  a  short  time  before  Christ,  and  was  born  in  the 
island  of  Sicily,  in  the  Mediterranean,  says,  "  the  people  of  the 
islands  of  Minorca  and  Majorca,  in  time  of  war,  could  sling 
greater  stones  than  any  other  people,  and  with  such  force,  that 
they  seemed  as  if  projected  from  a  capult,"  an  engine  used  by 
the  ancients  for  this  purpose. 

Therefore,  in  assaults  made  on  fortified  towns,  they  grieviously 
wound  the  besieged,  and  in  battle,  they  break  in  pieces  the  shields, 
helmets,  and  every  species  of  armor,  by  which  the  body  is  de- 
fended. It  would  seem,  from  the  expertness  of  the  Patagonians, 
evinced  in  the  use  of  the  sling,  that  they  may  have  been  derived 
from  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  those  islands,  who  could  as  easily 
have  found  their  way  out  of  the  Mediterranean  by  the  strait  of 
Gibraltar  into  the  Atlantic  ocean,  and  be  driven  across  to  South 
America,  by  the  winds  from  the  cast,  or  by  the  current  of  the  sea 
as  were  the  Egyptians,  as  we  shall  soon  show. 

The  sling  was  a  very  ancient  warlike  instrument;  and  in  the 
hands  of  those  who  were  skilled  in  the  use  of  it,  it  produced  as- 
tonishing effects.  The  people  of  the  above  named  islands  were 
the  most  celebrated  slingers  of  antiquity.  They  did  not  permit 
their  children  to  eat  till  they  had  struck  down  their  food  from  the 
top  of  a  pole,  or  some  distant  eminence. 

Concerning  the  velocity  of  the  leaden  ball  thrown  out  of  the 
sling,  it  is  said  by  the  ancients,  to  have  melted  in  its  course. 
Ovid,  the  Roman  poet,  has  celebrated  its  speed,  in  the  following 
beautiful  verse: — 

"  Hermes  was  fired,  as  in  the'clouds  he  hung ; 
So  the  cold  bullet  that  with  fury  slung 
From  Balearic  engines,  mounts  on  high, 
Glows  in  the  whirl,  and  burns  along  the  sky." 

Seneca,  the  stoic  philosopher  of  Rome,  born  a.  d.  12,  says  the 
same  thing;  "the  ball  projected  from  the  sling,  melts,  and  is 
liquified  by  the  friction  of  the  air,  as  if  it  were  exposed  to  the 
action  of  fire." 

Vegetius,  who  lived  in  the  14th  century,  and  was  also  a  Roman, 
tells  us,  that  "  slingers  could,  in  general,  hit  the  mark  at  six  hun 


110 


AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 


dred  feet  distance,"  which  is  more  than  thirty  rods.  From  this 
view  we  see  what  havoc  the  western  nations,  using  the  sling  or 
engine,  to  throw  stones  from  their  vast  forts  and  mounds,  must 
have  made,  when  engaged  in  war. 


Discovery  of  the  Remains  of  Ancient  Pottery. 

On  the  subject  of  pottery  we  remark,  that  the  remains  of  this 
art  are  generally  found,  especially  of  any  extent,  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  salt  springs.  It  is  true,  that  specimens  of  earthen  ware 
are  frequently  taken  out  of  the  ancient  barrows  of  the  dead,  and 
also  are  frequently  brought  to  sight  on  the  shores  of  rivers,  where 
the  earth  has  been  removed  by  inundations. 

A  few  years  since,  an  instance  of  this  sort  occurred  at  Ta- 
wanda,  in  Pennsylvania.  The  Susquehannah  had  risen  very  high, 
at  the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  and  had  undermined  the  bank  on 
the  Tawanda  shore,  to  a  considerable  extent,  at  the  high  water 
mark.  On  the  receding  of  the  waters,  the  bank  was  found  to  be 
carried  away  for  the  distance  of  about  six  rods,  when  there  ap- 
peared several  fire  places,  made  of  the  stones  of  the  river,  with 
vessels  of  earthen,  of  a  capacity  about  equal  with  a  common  water 
pail,  in  a  very  good  state  of  preservation. 

Between  those  fire  places,  which  were  six  in  number,  were 
found  the  skeletons  of  several  human  beings,  lying  in  an  undis- 
turbed position,  as  if  they,  when  living,  had  fallen  asleep,  and 
never  waked;  two  of  these,  in  particular,  attracted  attention,  and 
excited  not  a  little  surprise;  they  were  lying  side  by  side,  with 
the  arm  of  one  of  them  under  the  neck  of  the  other,  and  the  feet 
were  mingled  in  such  a  manner  as  to  induce  the  belief  that  when 
death  came  upon  them,  they  were  asleep  in  each  other's  em- 
braces. But  in  what  manner  they  came  to  their  death,  so  that 
they  appeared  not  to  have  moved,  from  the  fatal  moment  till  the 
bank  was  carried  away,  which  had  covered  them  for  ages,  is 
strange  indeed. 

It  cannot  be  supposed  they  died  all  at  once,  of  some  sickness, 
or  that  an  enemy  surprised  them  while  sleeping,   and,  silently 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  Ill 

passing  from  couch  to  couch,  inflicted  the  deadly  blow;  because, 
in  any  of  these  ways  their  bones,  in  the  convulsions  of  dissolur 
tion,  must  have  been  deranged,  so  that  the  image  and  peaceful 
posture  of  sleepers  could  not  have  characterised  their  positions, 
as  they  were  found  to  have.  It  was  conjectured,  at  the  time  of 
their  discovery,  that  the  period  of  their  death  had  been  at  the  sea- 
son of  the  year  when  that  river  breaks  up  its  ice;  in  March  or 
April,  the  river  they  supposed,  may  have  been  dammed  up  below 
them,  where,  it  is  true,  the  stream  narrows  on  the  account  of  the 
approach  of  the  mountains.  Here  the  ice  having  jammed  in  be- 
tween, caused  a  sudden  rise  of  the  river,  and  setting  back,  over- 
flowed them. 

But  this  cannot  be  possible,  as  the  noise  of  the  breaking  ice 
would  never  allow  them  to  sleep;  this  operation  of  nature  is  ac- 
companied with  a  tremendous  uproar  tearing  and  rending  the 
shores  and  forests  that  grow  on  them,  multiplying  crash  on  crash, 
with  the  noise  of  thunder.  Neither  can  it  be  well  supposed,  the 
waters  came  over  them  in  the  way  suggested,  even  if  they  had 
slept  during  the  scene  we  have  just  described,  because  on  the  first 
touch  of  the  waters  to  their  bodies,  they  would  naturally  spring 
from  their  sleep  in  surprise. 

Something  must  have  happened  that  deprived  them  of  life  and 
motion  in  an  instant  of  time.  This  is  not  impossible,  because  at 
Herculaneum  and  Pompeii,  are  found,  where,  in  digging,  they 
have  penetrated  through  the  lava  down  to  those  ancient  cities, 
laying  bare  streets,  houses  and  temples,  with  their  contents,  such 
as  have  survived  the  heat  which  ruined  those  cities — skeletons, 
holding  between  their  fingers  something  they  had  in  their  hands 
at  the  moment  of  their  death,  so  that  they  do  not  appear  even  to 
have  struggled. 

Something  of  the  same  nature,  as  it  respects  suddenness,  must 
have  overtaken  these  sleepers;  so  that  their  natural  positions  were 
not  disturbed.  If  the  place  of  their  dwellings  had  been  skirted 
by  a  steep  bank  or  hill,  it  might  then  have  been  supposed  that  a 
land  slip  or  mine  tying,  had  buried  them  alive,  but  this  is  not 
the  case.  They  were  about  four  feet  under  ground,  the  soil  which 
covered  them  was  the  same  alluvial  with  the  rest  of  the  flat;  it  is 
a  mystery,  and  cannot  be  solved,  unless  we  suppose  an  explosion 
of  earth,  occasioned  by  compressed  air  or  gas,  which,  bursting 
the  earth  near  them,  suddenly  buried  them  alive. 


112  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Dr.  Beck,  the  author  of  the  Gazetteer  of  Illinois  and  Missouri, 
suggests  the  cause  of  the  earthquakes,  in  the  valley  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi, in  1811  and  1812,  which,  in  many  places,  threw  up  in  an 
instant  vast  heaps  of  earth,  to  have  been  the  principle  of  galvan- 
ism bursting  from  the  depths  beneath,  in  a  perpendicular  direction, 
overwhelming,  in  a  moment  of  time,  whatever  might  be  asleep  or 
awake,  wherever  it  fell. 

Further  down  the  Susquehannah,  some  thirty  or  forty  miles  be- 
low Tawanda,  at  a  place  called  the  Black-walnut  Bottom,  on  the 
farm  of  a  Mr.  Kinney,  was  discovered  a  most  extraordinary 
specimen  of  pottery. 

Respecting  this  discovery,  the  owner  of  the  farm  relates,  as 
we  are  informed  by  a  clergyman,  who  examined  the  article  on 
the  spot,  though  in  a  broken  state,  that  soon  after  the  first  settle- 
ments on  that  river,  and  especially  on  that  farm,  a  great  freshet 
took  place  which  tore  a  channel  in  a  certain  direction  across  the 
flat,  when  the  vessel  which  we  are  about  to  describe,  was  brought 
to  light. 

It  was  twelve  feet  across  the  top,  and  of  consequence  thirty-six 
feet  in  circumference,  and  otherwise  of  proportionable  depth  and 
form.  Its  thickness  was  three  inches,  and  appeared  to  be  made 
of  some  coarse  substance,  probably  mere  clay,  such  as  might  be 
found  on  the  spot,  as  it  was  not  glazed.  Whoever  its  makers 
were,  they  must  have  manufactured  it  on  the  spot  where  it  was 
found,  as  it  must  have  been  impossible  to  move  so  huge  a  vessel. 
They  may  have  easily  effected  its  construction  by  building  it  up 
by  degrees,  with  layers  put  on  in  succession,  till  high  enough  to 
suit  the  enormous  fancy  of  its  projectors,  and  then  by  piling  wood 
around,  it  might  have  been  burnt  so  as  to  be  fit  for  use,  and  then 
propped  up  by  stones,  to  keep  it  from  falling  apart. 

But  who  can  tell  for  what  use  this  vast  vessel  was  intended'? 
Conjecture  here  is  lost;  no  ray  of  light  dawns  upon  this  strange 
remnant  of  antiquity.  One  might  be  led  to  suppose  it  was  made 
in  imitation  of  the  great  laver  in  the  court  of  Solomon's  Temple, 
which  was  seventeen  feet  two  inches  in  diameter,  and  fifty-two 
feet  six  inches  in  circumference,  and  eight  feet  nine  inches 
deep. — (II  Chronicles,  iv.  2.), 

The  discovery  of  this  vast  specimen  of  earthen  ware,  is,  at  any 
rate,  a  singularity,  and  refers  to  some  age  of  the  world  when  the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  113 

inhabitants  used  very  large  implements  of  husbandry.  If  there 
had  been  in  its  neighborhood  a  salt  spring,  as  there  are  often 
found  farther  west,  we  should  not  be  at  a  loss  to  know  for  what 
purpose  it  was  constructed. 

Remarkable  specimens  of  pottery  are  often  brought  up  from 
very  great  depths  at  the  salt  works  in  Illinois.  Entire  pots  of  a 
very  large  capacity,  holdiug  from  eight  to  ten  gallons,  have  been 
disinterred  from  the  amazing  depth  of  eighty  feet ;  others  have 
been  found  at  even  greater  depths,  and  of  greater  dimensions. — 
Schoolcraft. 

Upon  this  subject  this  author  makes  the  following  remark: — 
"  If  these  antique  vessels  are  now  supposed  to  lie  in  those  depths 
where  they  were  anciently  employed,  the  surface  of  the  Ohio, 
and  consequently  of  the  Mississippi,  must  have  been  sixty  or 
oighty  feet  lower  than  they  are  at  present,  to  enable  the  saline 
water  to  drain  off;  and  the  ocean  itself  must  have  stood  at  a  lower 
level,  or  extended  in  an  elongated  gulf  up  the  present  valley  of 
the  Mississippi." 

Many  are  of  the  opinion,  that  much  of  this  region  of  country 
once  lay  beneath  large  lakes  of  water,  and  that  the  barriers  be- 
tween them  and  the  ocean,  by  some  means  were  broken  down, 
when  a  rush  of  water  swept  the  whole  country,  in  its  course  to 
the  sea,  burying  all  the  ancient  nations,  with  their  works,  at  those 
depths  beneath  the  surface  as  low  as  where  those  fragments  of 
earthern  ware  are  found.  The  bottom  of  those  lakes  is  also  sup- 
posed to  be  the  true  origin  of  the  immense  prairies  of  the  west; 
and  the  reason  why  they  are  not,  long  since  grown  over  with 
forest  trees,  is  supposed  to  be  because,  from  the  rich  and  mucky 
soil  found  at  the  bottom  of  those  lakes,  a  grass  of  immense  length, 
ten  and  fourteen  feet  high,  peculiar  to  the  prairies,  immediately 
sprung  up  before  trees  could  take  root,  and  therefore  hindred  this 
effort  of  nature.  And  as  a  reason  why  forest  trees  have  not  been 
able  to  gain  upon  the  prairies,  it  is  alleged,  the  Indians  annually 
burn  these  boundless  meadows,  which  ministers  to  their  perpetuity. 
Some  of  those  prairies  are  hundreds  of  miles  in  length  and 
breadth,  and  in  burning  over,  present,  in  the  night,  a  spectacle 
too  grand,  sublime  and  beautiful  for  adequate  description;  belting 
the  horizon  with  a  rim  of  fire,  the  farthest  verge  of  which  seem 

8 


114  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

dipped  in  the  immeasurable  distance,  so  that  even  contemplation t 
in  its  boldest  efforts,  is  swallowed  up  and  rendered  powerless. 


A  Catacomb  of  Mummies  found  in  Kentucky. 

Lexington,  in  Kentucky,  stands  nearly  on  the  site  of  an  an- 
cient town,  which  was  of  great  extent  and  magnificence,  as  is 
amply  evinced  by  the  wide  range  of  its  circumvallatory  works, 
and  the  quantity  of  ground  it  once  occupied. 

There  was  connected  with  the  antiquities  of  this  place,  a  cata- 
comb, formed  in  the  bowels  of  the  limestone  rock,  about  fifteen 
feet  below  the  surface  of  the  earth,  adjacent  to  the  town  of  Lex- 
ington. This  grand  object,  so  novel  and  extraordinary  in  this 
country,  was  discovered  in  1775,  by  some  of  the  first  settlers, 
whose  curiosity  was  excited  by  something  remarkable  in  the 
character  of  the  stones  which  covered  the  entrance  to  the  cavern 
within.  They  removed  these  stones,  and  came  to  others  of  singu- 
lar appearance  for  stones  in  a  natural  state;  the  removal  of  which 
laid  open  the  mouth  of  a  cave,  deep,  gloomy,  and  terrific,  as  they 
supposed. 

With  augmented  numbers,  and  provided  with  light,  they  de- 
scended and  entered,  without  obstruction,  a  spacious  apartment  ; 
the  sides  and  extreme  ends  were  formed  into  niches  and  compart- 
ments, and  occupied  by  figures  representing  men.  When  alarm 
subsided,  and  the  sentiment  of  dismay  and  surprise  permitted  fur- 
ther research  and  inquiry,  the  figures  were  found  to  be  mummies, 
preserved  by  the  art  of  embalming,  to  as  grest  a  state  of  perfec- 
tion as  was  known  among  the  ancient  Egyptians,  eighteen  hundred 
years  before  the  Christian  era;  which  was  about  the  time  that  the 
Israelites  were  in  bondage  in  Egypt,  when  this  art  was  in  its  per- 
fection. 

Unfortunately  for  antiquity,  science,  and  every  thing  else  held 
sacred  by  the  illumined  and  learned,  this  inestimable  discovery 
was  made  at  a  period  when  a  bloody  and  inveterate  war  was  car- 
ried on  between  the  Indians  and  the  whites  :  and  the  power  of 
the  natives  was  displayed  in  so  savage  a  manner,  that  the  whites 
were  filled  with  revenge.     Animated  by  this  vindictive  spirit,  the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  115 

discoverers  of  the  catacomb  delighted  to  wreak  their  vengeance 
even  on  the  mummies,  supposing  them  to  be  of  the  same  Indian 
race  with  whom  they  were  then  at  war. 

They  dragged  them  out  to  the  open  air,  tore  the  bandages  open, 
kicked  the  bodies  into  dust,  and  made  a  general  bonfire  of  the  most 
ancient  remains  antiquity  could  boast.  The  descent  to  this  caver 
is  gradual,  the  width  four  feet,  the  height  seven,  and  the  wno 
length  of  the  catacomb  was  found  to  be  eighteen  rods  and  a  half 
by  six  and  a  half;  and  calculating  from  the  niches  and  shelvings 
on  the  sides,  it  was  sufficiently  capacious  to  have  contained  at 
least  two  thousand  subjects. 

I  could  never,  says  Mr.  Ash,  from  whose  travels  we  have  taken 
this  account,  learn  the  exact  quantity  it  contained  ;  the  answers 
to  the  inquiries  which  he  made  respecting  it  were,  "O,  they  burnt 
up  and  destroyed  hundreds  !"  Nor  could  he  arrive  at  any  know- 
ledge of  the  fashion,  manner,  and  apparel  of  the  mummies,  or  re- 
ceive any  other  information  than  that  they  "were  well  lapped  up," 
appeared  sound,  and  consumed  in  the  fire  with  a  rapid  flame. 
But  not  being  contented  with  the  uncertain  information  of  per- 
sons, who,  it  seems,  had  no  adequate  knowledge  of  the  value  of 
this  discovery,  he  caused  the  cavern  to  be  gleamed  for  such  frag- 
ments as  yet  remained  in  the  niches,  on  its  shelving  sides  and  from 
the  floor.  The  quantity  of  remains  thus  gathered  up,  amounted 
to  forty  or  fifty  baskets,  the  dust  of  which  was  so  light  and  pungent 
as  to  affect  the  eyes  even  to  tears,  and  the  nose  to  sneezing,  to  a 
troublesome  degree. 

He  then  proceeded  on  a  minute  investigation,  and  separated 
from  the  general  mass  several  pieces  of  human  limbs,  fragments 
of  bodies,  solid,  sound,  and  apparently  capable  of  eternal  duration 
In  a  cold  state  they  had  no  smell  whatever,  but  when  submitted  to 
the  action  of  fire,  gave  out  an  agreeable  effluvia,  but  was  like  no- 
thing in  its  fragrance  to  which  he  could  compare  it. 

On  this  subject  Mr.  Ash  has  the  following  reflections  :  "■  How 
these  bodies  were  enbalmed,  how  long  preserved,  by  what  nations, 
and  from  what  people  descended,  no  opinion  can  be  formed,  nor 
any  calculation  made,  but  what  must  result  from  speculative  fancy 
and  wild  conjecture.  For  my  part,  I  am  lost  in  the  deepest  igno- 
rance. My  reading  affords  me  no  knowledge,  my  travels  no  light. 
I  have  neither  read  nor  known  of  any  of  the  North  American  In- 


116  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

dians    who   formed  catacombs  for  their  dead,   or  who  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  art  of  preservation  by  embalming. 

The  Egyptians,  according  to  Herodotus,  who  flourished  450 
years  before  Christ,  had  three  methods  of  embalming;  but  Diodo- 
rus,  who  hved  before  Christ,  in  the  time  of  Julius  Ceesar,  observes, 
that  the  ancient  Egyptians  had  a.  fourth  method  of  far  greater  su- 
periority. That  method  is  not  described  by  Diodorus  ;  it  had 
become  extinct  in  his  time  ;  and  yet  I  cannot  think  it  presumptu- 
ous to  conceive  that  the  American  mummies  were  preserved 
after  that  very  manner,  or  at  least  with  a  mode  of  equal  virtue  and 
effect." 

The  Kentuckians  asserted,  that  the  features  of  the  face  and 
the  form  of  the  whole  body  were  so  well  preserved,  that  they 
must  have  been  the  exact  representations  of  the  once  living  sub- 
jects. 

This  cavern,  indeed,  is  similar  to  those  found  in  Egypt,  where 
the  once  polished  and  powerful  inhabitants  bestowed  their  dead, 
wrapped  up  in  the  linens,  spices,  and  aromatics  of  that  country. 
It  is  probable  that  the  cave  where  these  were  found  was  partly 
natural  and  partly  artificial.  Having  found  it  suitable  to  their 
purpose,  they  had  opened  a  convenient  descent,  cleared  out  the 
stones  and  rocks,  and  fitted  it  with  niches  for  the  reception  of  those 
they  had  embalmed. 

This  custom,  it  would  seem,  is  purely  Egyptian,  and  was  prac- 
tised in  the  earliest  age  of  their  national  existence,  which  was 
about  two  thousand  years  before  Christ.  Catacombs  are  numerous 
all  over  Egypt,  vast  excavations  under  ground,  with  niches  in 
their  sides  for  their  embalmed  dead,  exactly  such  as  the  one  we 
have  described. 

Shall  we  be  esteemed  presumptuous,  if  we  hazard  the  opinion 
that  the  people  who  made  this  cavern  and  filled  it  with  the  thou- 
sands of  their  embalmed  dead  were,  indeed,  from  Egypt  1  If  they 
were  not,  whither  shall  we  turn  for  a  solution  of  this  mystery  ? 
To  what  country  shall  we  travel  ?  where  are  the  archives  of  past 
ages,  that  shall  shed  its  light  here  1 

If  the  Egyptians  were  indeed,  reckoned  as  the  first  of  nations  ; 
for  so  are  they  spoken  of,  even  in  the  Scriptures  :  if  from  them 
was  derived  the  art  of  navigation,  the  knowledge  of  astronomy, 
in  a  great  degree,  with  many  other  arts,  of  use  to  human  society; 


AND    DISC0VERIE6    IN    THE    WEST.  117 

such  as  architecture,  agriculture,  with  the  science  of  government, 
(Sec;  why  not  allow  the  authors  of  the  antiquated  works  about 
Lexington,  (together  with  the  immense  catacomb  as  evidence,)  to 
have  been,  indeed,  an  Egyptian  colony;  seeing  the  art  of  embalm- 
ing, which  is  peculiarly  characterestic  of  that  people,  was  found 
there  in  a  state  of  perfection  not  exceeded  by  the  mother  country 
itself.  • 

A  trait  of  national  practices  so  strong  and  palpable,  as  is  this 
peculiar  art,  should  lead  the  mind,  without  hesitation,  to  a  belief, 
that  wherever  the  thing  is  practised,  we  have  found  in  its  authors 
either  a  colony  direct  from  Egypt,  or  the  descendants  of  some  na- 
tion of  the  countries  of  Africa  acquainted  with  the  art. 

But  if  this  be  so,  the  question  here  arises.,  how  came  they  in 
America,  seeing  the  nearest  point  of  even  South  America  ap- 
proaches no  nearer  to  the  nearest  point  of  Africa,  than  about 
seventeen  hundred  miles'?  Those  points  are,  first,  on  the  Ameri- 
can side,  Cape  St.  Roque;  and,  second,  on  the  African  side,  Cape 
de  Verd. 

But  such  is  the  mechanism  of  the  globe,  and  the  operation  of 
the  waters,  that  from  the  west  coast  of  Africa  there  is  a  constant 
current  of  the  sea  setting  toward  South  America,  so  that  if  a  ves- 
sel were  lost,  or  if  an  eastern  storm  had  driven  it  far  into  the 
ocean  or  South  Atlantic,  it  would  naturally  arrive  at  last  on  the 
American  coast.  This  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  predicament 
of  the  fleet  of  Alexander  the  Great,  some  hundred  years  before 
the  Christian  era,  as  we  have  before  related.  The  cause  of  this 
current  is  doubtless,  the  flow  of  the  waters  of  the  Mediterranean 
.nto  the  Atlantic  ;  the,  Miditerranean  being  fed  by  a  vast  number 
of  the  rivers  of  Europe. 

The  next  inquiry  to  be  pursued,  is,  whether  the  Egyptians  were 
ever  a  maritime  people,  or  rather,  anciently  so,  sufficient  for  our 
purpose]  By  consulting  ancient  history,  we  find  it  mentioned  that 
the  Egyptians,  as  early  as  fourteen  hundred  and  eight-five  years 
before  Christ,  had  shipping,  and  that  one  Danus,  with  his  fifty 
daughters,  sailed  into  Greece,  and  anchored  at  Rhodes;  which  is 
three  thousand,  three  hundred  and  twenty  years  back  from  the 
present  year,  1835.  Eight  hundred  and  eighty-one  years  after 
the  landing  of  this  vessel  at  Rhodes,  we  find  the  Egyptians,  under 
the  direction  of  Necho,  their  king  fitting  out  some  Phoenicians 
with  a  vessel,  or  fleet,  with  orders  to  sail  from  the  Red  sea,    quite 


118  [  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

around  the  continent  of  Africa,  and  to  return  by  the  Miditerran- 
ean,  which  they  effected. 

It  is  easy  to  pursue  the  very  track  they  sailed,  in  order  to  cir- 
cumnavigate Africa;  sailing  from  some  port  on  the  Red  sea, 
they  pass  down  to  the  strait  of  Babelmandel,  into  the  Indian 
ocean;  thence  south,  around  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  into  the 
South  Atlantic  ; — thence  north  along*  the  African  coast  on  the 
west  side,  which  would  carry  them  along  opposite,  or  east  of 
South  America. 

Pursuing  this  course,  they  would  pass  into  the  Mediterranean 
at  the  strait  of  Gibraltar,  and  so  on  to  Egypt,  mooring  at  Alex- 
ndria,  on  the  south  end  of  the  Mediterranean;  a  voyage  of  more 
ban  sixteen  thousand  miles;  two-thirds  of  the  distance  round  the 
earth.  Many  ages  after  their  first  settlement  in  Egypt,  they  were 
the  leading  nation  in  maritime  skill  and  other  arts. 

It  is  true,  that  a  knowledge  of  the  compass  and  magnet,  as  aids 
to  navigation,  in  Africa  or  Europe,  was  unknown  in  those  early 
ages;  but  to  counterbalance  this  defect^  they  were,  from  necessity, 
much  more  skilful  in  a  knowledge  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  as 
guides  to  their  courses,  than  men  are  at  the  present  day.  But  in 
China,  it  is  new  believed  that  a  knowledge  of  the  magnet,  and  its 
application  to  the  great  purposes  of  navigation,  was  understood 
before  the  time  of  Abraham,  more  than  two  thousand  years  before 
Christ,  of  which  we  shall  give  a  more  particular  account  in  ano- 
ther place  of  this  work. 

But  if  we  cannot  allow  the  Egyptians  to  have  visited  South 
America,  and  all  the  islands  between,  on  voyages  of  discovery, 
which  by  no  means  can  be  supposed  chimerical,  we  are  ready 
to  admit  that  they  may  have  been  driven  there,  by  an  eastern 
storm;  and,  as  favoring  such  a  circumstance,  the  current  which 
sets  from  the  African  coast  toward  South  America,  should  not  be 
forgotten. 

If  it  be  allowed  that  this  mode  of  reasoning  is  at  all  conclusive, 
the  same  will  apply  in  favor  of  their  having  first  hit  on  the  coast 
of  the  West  Indies,  as  this  group  of  islands,  as  they  now  exist,  is 
much  more  favorable  to  a  visit  from  that  particular  part  of  Africa 
called  Egypt,  than  is  South  America. 

Egypt  and  the  West  Indies  are  exactly  in  the  same  latitude,  that 
is,  the  northern  parts  of  those  islands,  both  being  between  twenty 
and  thirty  degrees  north. 


AND    DISC0VERIE8    IN    THE     WEST.  119 

Sailing  from  Egypt,  out  of  the  Mediterranean,  passing  through 
the  straits  of  Gibraltar,  would  throw  a  vessel,  in  case  of  an  eastern 
storm,  aided  by  the  current,  as  high  north  as  opposite  the  Bahama 
islands.  A  blow  of  but  a  few  days  in  that  direction,  would  be 
quite  sufficient  to  have  driven  an  Egyptian  vessel,  or  boat,  or 
whatever  they  may  have  sailed  in,  entirely  on  the  coast  of  the 
West  Indies.  The  trade  winds  sweep  westward  across  the  At- 
lantic, through  a  space  of  fifty  or  sixty  degrees  of  longitude,  car- 
rying every  thing  within  their  current  directly  to  the  American 
coast. 

If  such  may  have  been  the  case,  they  were,  indeed,  in  a  man- 
ner, on  the  very  continent  itself,  especially  if  the  opinion  of  Pre- 
sident Jefferson  and  others  be  allowed,  that  the  gulf  of  Mexico, 
which  is  situated  exactly  behind  those  islands,  west,  has  been 
scooped  out  by  the  current  which  makes  from  the  equator  toward 
the  north. 

Kentucky  itself,  where  we  think  we  have  found  the  remains  of 
an  Egyptian  colony,  or  nation,  as  in  the  case  of  the  works  and 
catacomb  at  Lexington,  is  in  latitude  but  five  degrees  north  of 
Egypt;  so  that  whether  they  may  have  visited  America  on  a  voy- 
age of  exploration,  or  have  been  driven  on  the  coast  against  their 
will,  in  either  case,  it  would  be  perfectly  natural  that  they  should 
have  established  themselves  in  that  region. 

Traits  of  Egyptian  manners  were  found  among  many  of  the 
nations  of  South  America,  mingled  with  those  who  appeared  to 
be  of  other  origin;  of  which  we  shall  speak  again  in  the  course 
of  this  work. 

But  at  Lexington,  the  traits  are  too  notorious  to  allow  them  to 
be  other  than  pure  Egyptian,  in  full  possession  of  the  strongest 
complexion  of  their  national  character,  that  of  embalming,  which 
was  connected  with  ther  religion. 

The  Mississippi,  which  disembogues  itself  into  the  Mexican 
gulf,  is  in  the  same  north  latitude  with  Egypt,  and  may  have,  by 
its  likeness  to  the  Egyptian  Nile,  invited  those  adventurers  to  pur- 
sue its  course,  till  a  place  suited  to  their  views  or  necessities  may 
have  presented. 

Other  tokens  of  the  presence  of  an  Egyptian  population,  are 
not  wanting  in  North  America;  as  in  the  vale  of  Mexico,  a  few 
years  since,  "  several  curious  specimens  of  sculpture  have  been 


120 


AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 


discovered,  and  sent  to  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  by  the  Ame- 
rican Minister  at  Mexico,  Mr.  Poinsett;  which  articles  are  now 
in  the  Museum  of  the  Literary  and  Philosophical  Society,  at 
Charleston.  The  collection  consists  of  several  images,  and  a 
large  figure  of  a  snake,  which  was  doubtless  a  favorite  object  of 
adoration.  These  images  are  well  worthy  attention,  as  they 
bear  the  evident  marks  of  antiquity;  and  though  the  sculpture  is 
rude,  it  is  impossible  for  any  one  who  has  examined  the  remains 
of  ancient  limes,  not  to  be  struck  with  the  strong  resemblance 
they  bear  to  the  workmanship  of  the  ancient  Egyptians." — The 
Escritoir,  vol.  1,  p.  358,  for  1827. 


Ancient  Letters  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Americans. 

The  ancient  Punic,  Phoenician,  or  Carthaginian  language,  is 
all  the  same;  the  characters  called  Punic,  or  Phoenician,  there- 
tore,  are  also  the  same.  A  fac  simile  of  those  characters,  as 
copied  by  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  are  herewith  presented.     See  No.  4. 


No.  4. 


No.  5. 


They  were  discovered  in  the  island-  of  Malta,  in  the  Mediter- 
ranean, which  was  anciently  inhabited  by  the  Phoenicians,  long 
before  the  Romans  existed  as  a  nation.  These  characters 
were  found  engraved  on  a  stone,  in  a  cave  of  that  island,  in  the 
year  1761,  which  was  a  sepulchral  cave,  so  used  by  the  earliest 
inhabitants.  These  characters,  being  found  in  this  ancient  re- 
pository of  the  dead,  it  is  believed,  marks  the  place  of  the  burial 
of  that  famous  Carthaginian  general,  Hannibal,   as  they  expli- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  121 

citly  allude  to  that  character.  The  reading  in  the  original  is  as 
follows: 

"Chadar  Beth  olam  kabar  Chanibaal  Nakeh  becaleth  haveh> 
rachm  daeh  Am  beshuth  Chanilaal  ben  Bar  melee." 

Which,  being  interpreted,  is:  "The  inner  chamber  of  the  sanc- 
tuary of  the  sepulchre  of  Hannibal,  Illustrious  in  the  consumma- 
tion of  calamity.  He  was  beloved.  The  people  lament,  when 
arrayed  in  order  of  battle,  Hannibal,  the  son  of  Bar-melec." 

This  is  one  of  the  largest  remains  of  the  Punic  or  Phoenician 
language  now  in  existence.  Characters  of  this  description  are 
also  found  on  the  rocks  of  Dighton,  Massachusetts,  near  the- 
sea. 

In  a  chain  of  mountains  between  the  rivers  Oronoco  and  Ama- 
zon, South  America,  are  found  engraved  in  a  cavern,  on  a  block 
of  granite,  characters  supposed  also  to  be  Punic  letters,  a  fac 
simile  of  which  is  presented  at  No.  5.  These  were  furnished  by 
Baron  Humboldt,  in  his  volume  of  Researches  in  South  America; 
between  which  and  those  given  us  above,  by  Dr.  Clarke,  it  is 
easy  to  perceive  a  degree  of  similarity. 

But  if  the  Phoenician  letters  shown  at  Nos.  4  and  5  are  highly 
interesting,  those  which  follow  at  Nos.  1,  2  and  3  are  equally  so. 
These  are  presented  to  the  public  by  Prof.  Rafinesque,  in  his  At- 
lantic Journal  for  1832,  with  their  meaning. 

Under  figures  1  and  2  are  the  African,  or  Lybian  characters, 
the  primitive  letters  of  the  most  ancient  nations  of  Africa.  Un- 
der figure  3  are  the  American  letters,  or  letters  of  Otolum,  an 
ancient  city,  the  ruins  of  which  are  found  in  North  America, 
being,  so  far  as  yet  explored,  of  an  extent  embracing  a  circum- 
ference of  seventy-fivo  miles,  of  which  we  shall  again  speak  in 
due  time. 

The  similarity  which  appears  between  the  African  letters  and 
the  letters  of  America,  as  in  use  perhaps  two  thousand  years 
before  Christ,  is  almost,  if  not  exact;  showing,  beyond  a  doubt, 
that  the  same  nations,  the  same  languages,  and  the  same  arts, 
which  were  known  in  ancient  Lybia,  or  Africa,  were  also 
known  in  America;  as  well  also  as  nations  from  old  China,  who 
came  to  the  western  coast  in  huge  vessels,  as  we  shall  show  in 
this  work. 

We  here  subjoin  an  account  of  those  characters,  numbered  1„ 


122 


AMERICAN    ANTIQUIT1E8 


2,  3,  by  the  author,  Prof.  Rafinesque;  and  also  of  the  American 
glyphs,  which,  however,  are  not  presented  here,  but  on  another 
page  of  this  work.  They  are  formed  by  a  combination  of  the  letters 
numbered  1,  2,  3,  and  resembling  very  much,  in  our  opinion,  the 
Chinese  characters,  when  grouped  or  combined,  with  a  view  to 
express  a  sentence  or  a  paragraph  in  their  language.  The  ac- 
count is  as  follows: 

LYBIAN.  AMERICAN. 

No.  1.        2.  3. 


Ear 
Eye 

Nose 


AIPS 
ESH 
IFR 


Tongue  OMBR 
Hand  VULD 
Earth     LAMBD 


Sea 

Air 

Fire 

Sun 

Moon 

Mars 


MAH 
NISP 
RASH 
BAP 
CEK 
DOR 


Merc'y  GOREG 
Venus  UAF 
Saturn  SIASH 
Jupiter  THEUE 


A 

E 

I 
0 

u 

L 
M 

N 
P 

B  P 
C  k 
D  t 
G 

V  f 
S  sh 
Thz 


<§> W  IG  ®  <s> 


m 


mimmmmm 


mmwMMmm 


^+X 


!Pti  w 

v-&m 

ii  03 

MWM$. 

iH  n 

■    ■    ■• 

A 

EI 
IZ 

ow 
uw 

IL 
IM 
IN 
1R 

IB 

UK 

ID  ET 

[GH 
UW 
ES  ISH 

uz 


AND    DI8COVERIKS    IN    THE    WEST.  123 

Letter  to  Mr.  Champollion,  on  the  Graphic  Systems   of  America, 
and  the  Glyphs  of  Otolum,  or  Palenque,  in  Central  America. 

ELEMENTS    OF    THE    GLYPHS. 

I  have  the  pleasure  to  present  you  here  a  tabular  and  com- 
parative view  of  the  Atlantic  alphabets  of  the  two  continents, 
with  a  specimen  of  the  groups  of  letters,  or  glyphs,  of  the 
monuments  of  Otolum,*  or  Palenque  ;  which  belong  to  my 
seventh  serious  of  graphic  signs,  and  are,  in  fact,  words  formed 
by  grouped  letters,  or  elements,  as  in  Chinese  characters,  or 
somewhat  like  the  cyphers  now  yet  in  use  among  us,  formed 
by  acrostical  anagrams,  or  combinations  of  the  first  letters  of 
words  or  names. 

When  I  began  my  investigation  of  these  American  glyphs  and 
became  'convinced  that  they  must  have  been  groups  of  letters,  I 
sought  for  the  elementary  letters  in  all  the  ancient  known  alpha- 
bets, the  Chinese  Sanscrit,  but  in  vain.  The  Chinese  characters 
offered  but  few  similarities  with  the  glyphs,  and  not  having  a  lit- 
eral but  syllabic  alphabet,  could  not  promise  the  needful  clue.  The 
Sanscrit  alphabet,  and  all  its  derived  branches,  including  even  the 
Hebrew,  Phoenician,  Pelagic,  Celtic  and  Cantabrian  alphabets, 
were  totally  unlike  in  forms  and  combinations  of  grouping.  But 
in  the  great  variety  of  Egyptian  form  of  the  same  letters,  I  thought 
that  I  could  trace  some  resemblance  with  our  American  glyphs. 
In  fact,  I  could  see  in  them  the  Egyptian  cross,  snake,  circle, 
delta,  square,  trident,  eye,  feather,  fish,  hand,  &c,  but  sought  in 
vain  for  the  birds,  lions,  sphynx,  beetle,  and  a  hundred  other 
nameless  signs  of  Egypt. 

However,  this  first  examination  and  approximation  of  analogy 
in  Egypt  and  Africa, was  a  great  preliminary  step  in  the  inquiry. 
I  had  always  believed  that  the  Atfantes  of  Africa  have  partly 
colonized  America,  as  so  many  ancient  writers  have  affirmed. 
This  belief  led  me  to  search  for  any  preserved  fragments  of 
the  alphabets  of  Western  Africa  and  Lybia,  the  land  of  the  Afri- 
can Atlantes,  yet  existing,  under  the  names  of  Berbers,  Tuarics, 
Shelluhs,  &c.  This  was  no  easy  task  The  Atlantic  antiqui- 
ties are  still  more  obscure  than  the  Egyptian.     No  Champollion 

P  *  A  late  discovered  city  of  North  America,  nearly  equal  to  the  Egyptian 
Thebes. 


124  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

had  raised  their  veil  ;  the  city  of  Farawan,  the  Thebes  of  the 
Atlantes,  whose  splendid  ruins  exist,  as  yet,  in  the  mountains  of 
Atlas,  has  not  even  been  described  properly  as  yet,  nor  its  inscrip- 
tions delineated. 

However,  I  found  at  last,  in  Germany,  (Africa  Illustrata,)  an 
old  Lybian  alphabet,  which  has  been  copied  by  Purchas,  in  his 
collection  of  old  alphabets.  I  was  delighted  to  find  it  so  explicit, 
so  well  connected  with  the  Egyptian,  being  also  an  acrostic  al- 
phabet, and  above  all,  to  find  that  all  its  signs  were  to  be  seen  in 
the  glyphs  of  Otolum,  the  American  city.  Soon  after  it  appeared,, 
in  a  supplement  to  Clapperton  and  Denham's  Travels  in  Africa,, 
another  old  and  obsolete  Lybian  alphabet,  not  acrostical,  found  by 
Denham,  in  old  inscriptions  among  the  Tuarics  of  Tagih  and 
Ghraat,  west  of  Fezan;  which,  although  unlike  the  first,  had 
many  analogies,  and  also  with  the  American  glyphs. 

Thinking,  then,  that  I  had  found  the  primitive  elements  of  these 
glyphs,  I  hastened  to  communicate  this  important  fact  to  Mr.  Du- 
ponceau,  (in  a  printed  letter,  directed  to  him  in  1828,)  who  was- 
struck  with  the  analogy,  and  was  ready  to  confess  that  the  glyphs 
of  Palenque  might  be  alphabetical  words,  although  he  did  not  be- 
lieve before  that  any  American  alphabets  were  extant.  But  he 
could  not  pursue  my  connection  of  ideas,  analogies  of  signs,  lan- 
guages and  traditions,  to  the  extent  which  I  desired,  and  now  am 
able  to  prove. 

To  render  my  conclusions  perspicuous,  I  must  divide  the  sub- 
ject into  several  parts,  directing  my  inquiries,  1st.  On  the  old 
Lybian  alphabet.  2dly.  On  the  Tuaric  alphabet.  3dly.  On  their 
element  in  the  American  glyphs.  4thly.  On  the  possibility  to  read 
them.  While  the  examination  of  their  language,  in  connection 
with  the  other  Atlantic  languages,  will  be  the  theme  of  my  third 
letter. 

1.  The  old  Lybian,  delineated  in  the  table  No.  1,  has  all  the 
appearance  of  a  very  ancient  alphabet,  based  upon  the  acros- 
tical plan  of  Egypt;  but  in  a  very  different  language,  of  which 
we  have  sixteen  words  preserved.  This  language  may  have  been 
that  of  a  branch  of  Atlantes,  perhaps  the  Getulians,  (Ge-tula,  or 
Tulas  of  the  plains,)  or  of  the  Ammonians,  old  Lybians,  and  also 
Atlantes. 


AND   DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST. 


125 


Out  of  these  sixteen  words,  only  five  have  a  slight  affinity  with 
the  Egyptian.     They  are: 


Lybian. 

Egyptian. 

Lybian. 

Egyptian 

Nose           Ifr 

Nif 

Venus 

Uaf 

AU> 

Sea              Mah 

Maub 

Ear 

Alps 

Ap 

Saturn        siash 

Sev 

While  this  Lybian  has  a  greater  analogy  with  the  Pelagic  dia- 
lects, as  many  as  twelve  out  of  sixteen  being  consimilar. 


Lybian . 

Pelagic. 

Lybian. 

Pelagic. 

Eye 

Esh 

Esbas 

Earth 

Lnmbd 

Landa 

Nose 

Ifr 

Rinit' 

Sea 

Mah 

Marah 

Hand 

Vuld 

Hul,  chil 

Fire 

Rash 

Purah 

Moon 

Cek 

Selka,  kres 

Venus 

Uaf 

I'enas 

Mars 

Dor 

Hares,  Thor 

Saturn 

Siash 

Satur,  Shiva 

Mercury     Goreg 

Mergor 

Jupiter 

Theue 

Theos 

Therefore,  the  numerical  analogy  is  only  32  per  cent,  with  the 
Egyptian,  while  it  is  75  per  cent,  with  the  Pelagic — another  proof, 
among  many,  that  the  ancient  Atlantes  were  intimately  connected 
with  the  Pelagian  nations  of  Greece,  Italy  and  Spain,  but  much 
less  so  with  the  Egyptians,  from  whom  they  however  borrowed 
perhaps  their  graphic  system. 

This  system  is  very  remarkable.  1.  By  its  acrostic  form.  2. 
By  having  only  16  letters,  like  most  of  the  primitive  alphabets, 
but  unlike  the  Egyptian  and  Sanscrit.  3.  By  being  susceptible  of 
twenty-two  sounds,  by  modification  of  six  of  the  letters,  as  usual 
among  the  Pelagian  and  Etruscan.  4.  Above  all,  by  being  based 
upon  the  acrostics  of  three  important  series  of  physical  objects,  the 
five  senses  represented  by  their  agents  in  man,  the  four  elements 
of  nature,  and  the  seven  planets;  which  are  very  philosophical 
ideas,  and  must  have  originated  in  a  civilized  nation  and  learned 
priesthood.  5.  By  the  graphic  signs -being  also  rude  delineations 
of  these  physical  objects,  or  their  emblems  :  the  ear,  eye,  nose, 
tongue  and  hand,  for  the  five  senses;  the  triangle  for  the  earth, 
fish  for  the  sea  or  water,  snake  for  the  air,  flame  for  fire;  a  circle 
for  the  sun,  crescent  for  the  moon,  a  sword  for  Mars,  a  purse  for 
Mercury,  the  V  for  Venus,  double  ring  for  Saturn,  and  trident  for 
Jupiter.  Venus  being  the  fifth  planet,  has  nearly  the  same  sign 
as  U,  the  fifth  letter. 

These  physical  emblems  are  so  natural  and  obvious,  that  they 
are  sometimes  found  among  many  of  the  ancient  alphabets;  the 


126  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

sun  and  moon  even  among  the  Chinese.  But  in  the  Egyptian  al- 
phabets, the  emblems  apply  very  often  to  different  letters,  owing 
to  the  difference  of  language  and  acrostic  feature.  Thus  the  hand 
applies  to  D  in  Egyptian  instead  of  U,  the  eye  to  R,  the  circle  to 
O,  the  snake  to  L,  &c. 

II.  The  second  Lybian  alphabet,  No.  2  in  the  tables,  was  the 
ancient  alphabet  of  Tuarics,  a  modern  branch  of  the  Atlantes,  until 
superseded  by  the  Arabic.  Denham  found,  with  some  difficulty, 
its  import,  and  names  of  letters  which  are  not  acrostic  but  literal, 
and  eighteen  in  number.  It  is  doubtful  whether  these  names  were 
well  applied,  in  all  instances,  as  the  explainer  was  ignorant,  and 
Denham  not  aware  of  the  importance  of  this  alphabet.  Some  ap- 
pear not  well  named,  and  U  with  V  have  the  same  sign,  W;  but 
these  are  always  interchangeable  in  old  language,  and  in  alphabet 
No.  1,  V  is  called  UAF,  instead  of  VAF,  and  U  is  VULD,  in- 
stead of  UULD! 

As  we  have  it,  this  alphabet  is  sufficiently  and  obviously  derived 
from  the  first,  eleven  out  of  the  sixteen  letters  being  similar  or 
nearly  so,  while  only  five  are  different,  E,  M,  R,  G  and  Z.  This 
last  appears  the  substitute  of  TH,  of  No.  1,  and  GH  represents  G. 
Yet  they  are  by  far  more  alike  than  the  Demotic  is  from  the  Hei- 
ratic  Egyptian,  and  I  therefore  deem  this  No.  2  a  Demotic  form 
of  the  ancient  Lybian  or  Atlantic. 

I  might  have  given  and  compared  several  other  Lybian  alpha- 
bets found  in  inscriptions;  but  as  they  have  been  delineated  with- 
out a  key  or  names,  it  is  at  present  very  difficult  to  decypher 
them.  I,  however,  recommend  them  to  the  attention  of  the 
learned,  and  among  others,  point  out  the  Lybian  inscription  of 
Appolonia,  the  harbor  of  Cyrene,  given  by  Lacella,  in  his  travels 
in  the  Cyrenaica.  The  letters  of  this  inscription  appear  more 
numerous  than  sixteen^  or  even  twenty-two  ;  and,  although  they 
have  some  analogies  with  the  two  Lybian  alphabets,  yet  approxi- 
mate still  more  to  the  Demotic  of  Egypt  and  the  Phoenician. 
But  the  inscriptions  in  Mount  Atlas  and  at  Farawan,  when  col- 
lected and  decyphered,  will  be  found  of  much  greater  historical 
importance. 

III.  Meantime,  in  the  column  No.  3,  of  the  tabular  view,  are 
given  forty-six  elements  of  the  glyphs  of  Otolum.  These  forty-six 


AND    DISCOVF.IUS    IN    THE    WEST.  12T 

elements  are  altogether  similar  or  derived  from  the  Lybian  proto- 
types of  No.  1  and  2.  In  some  cases  they  are  absolutely  identic, 
and  the  conviction  of  their  common  origin  is  almost  complete, 
particularly  when  taken  in  connection  with  the  collateral  proofs 
of  traditions  and  languages.  These  elements  are  somewhat 
involved  in  the  grouping,  yet  they  may  be  easily  perceived  and 
separated.  Sometimes  they  are  ornamented  by  double  lines  or 
otherwise,  as  monumental  letters  often  are.  Sometimes  united 
to  outside  numbers,  represented  by  long  ellipses,  meaning  10, 
and  round  dots,  meaning  unities,  which  approximates  to  the 
Mexican  system  of  graphic  numeration.  Besides  these  forty- 
six  elements,  some  others  may  be  seen  in  the  glyphs,  which  I 
left  off,  because  too  intricate;  although  they  appear  reducible,  if 
a  larger  table  could  have  been  given.  There  is  hardly  a  single 
one  that  may  not  be  traced  to  these  forms,  or  that  baffles  the  ac- 
tual theory.  Therefore,  the  conclusion  must  occur,  that  such  as- 
tonishing coincidence  cannot  be  casual,  but  it  is  the  result  of  ori- 
ginal derivation. 

The  following  remarks  are  of  some  importance: 

1.  The  glyphs  of  Otolum  are  written  from  top  to  bottom,  like 
the  Chinese,  or  from  side  to  side,  indifferently,  like  the  Egyptian 
and  the  Demotic  Lybian  of  No.  2.  We  are  not  told  how  No.  1 
was  written,  but  probably  in  the  same  way.  Several  signs  were 
used  for  the  same  letter  as  in  Egypt. 

2.  Although  the  most  common  way  of  writing  the  groups  is  in 
rows  and  each  group  separated,  yet  we  find  some  framed,  as  it 
were,  in  oblong  squares  or  tablets  like  those  of  Egypt. 

3.  The  letter  represented  by  a  head  occurs  frequently;  but  it  is 
remarkable  that  the  features  are  very  different  from  those  of  the 
remarkable  race  of  men  or  heroes  delineated  in  the  sculptures. 

4.  In  reducing  these  elements  to  the  alphabetical  form,  I  have 
been  guided  by  the  more  plausible  theory  involved  by  similar 
forms.  We  have  not  here  the  more  certain  demonstrations  of 
Bilingual  inscriptions;  but  if  the  languages  should  uphold  this 
theory,  they  certainly  will  be  increased  by  the  Atlantic  origins  of 
Otolum. 

IV.  But  shall  we  be  able  to  read  these  glyphs  and  inscriptions, 
without  positively  knowing  in  what  language  they  were  written?' 
The  attempt  will  be  arduous,  but  it  is  not  impossible.     In  Egypt, 


128  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

the  Coptic  has  been  found  such  a  close  dialect  of  the  Egyptian, 
that  it  has  enabled  you  to  read  ih3  oldest  hieroglyphs.  We  find 
among  the  ancient  dialects  of  Chiapa,  Yucatan  and  Guatimala, 
the  branches  of  the  ancient  speech  of  Otolum.  Nay,  Otolum 
was  perhaps  the  ancient  TOL  or  TOLA,  seat  of  the  Toltecas, 
(people  of  Tol,)  and  their  empire;  but  this  subject  will  belong  t» 
my  third  letter.  I  will  now  merely  give  a  few  attempts  to  read 
some  of  the  groups.     For  instance: 

1.  The  group  or  word  on  the  seat  of  the  sitting  man  of  plate  4, 
in  the  Atlantic  Journal  of  Prof.  Raffinesque,  of  monuments  of 
Palenque,  I  read  UOBAC,  being  formed  by  a  hand,  a  tongue,  a 
circle,  an  ear,  and  a  crescent.  It  is  perhaps  his  name.  And 
underneath  the  seat  is  an  eye  with  a  small  circle  inside,  meaning 
EB.  2.  In  plate  5,  (see  Atlantic  Journal  for  all  the  plates  alluded 
to,)  is  an  eye  with  two  annexed  rings,  meaning  probably  BAB, 
and  perhaps  the  sun,  which  is  BAP  in  the  Lybian  alphabet.  3. 
In  plate  1,  the  glyph  of  the  corner  with  a  head,  a  fish,  and  a 
orescent,  means  probably  KIM.  4.  The  first  glyph  of  page  15, 
is  probably  BLAKE.  5.  I  can  make  out  many  others  reading 
ICBE,  BOCOGO,  POPO,  EPL,  PKE,  &c. 

If  these  words  and  others  (although  some  may  be  names)  can 
be  found  in  African  languages,  or  in  those  of  central  America, 
we  shall  obtain  perhaps  the  key  of  the  whole  language  of  old 
Otolum.  And  next  reach,  step  by  step,  to  the  desirable  know- 
ledge of  reading  those  glyphs,  which  may  cover  much  historical 
knowledge  of  high  import.  Meantime  I  have  opened  the  path,  if 
my  theory  and  conjectures  are  correct,  as  I  have  strong  reasons 
to  believe. 

Besides  this  monumental  alphabet,  the  same  nation  that  built 
Otolum  had  a  Demotic  alphabet  belonging  to  my  8th  series;  which 
was  found  in  Guatimala  and  Yucatan,  at  the  Spanish  conquest. 
A  specimen  of  it  has  been  given  by  Humboldt  in  his  American 
researches,  plate  45,  from  the  Dresden  Library,  and  has  been 
-ascertained  to  be  Gutatimalan  instead  of  Mexican,  being  totally 
■unlike  the  Mexican  pictoral  manuscripts.  This  page  of  Demotic 
has  letters  and  numbers,  these  represented  by  strokes  meaning 
5,  and  dots  meaning  unities,  as  the  dots  never  exceed  four.  This 
is  nearly  similar  to  the  monumental  numbers. 

These  words  are  much  less  handsome  than  the  monumental 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  129 

glyphs;  they  are  also  uncouth  glyphs  in  rows  formed  by  irregular 
or  flexuous  heavy  strokes,  inclosing  within  small  strokes,  nearly 
the  same  letters  as  in  the  monuments.  It  might  not  be  impossible 
to  decypher  some  of  these  manuscripts  written  on  metl  paper: 
since  they  are  written  in  languages  yet  spoken,  and  the  writing 
was  understood  in  central  America,  as  late  as  200  years  ago.  If 
this  is  done,  it  will  be  the  best  clue  to  the  monumental  inscrip- 
tions. C.  S.  RAFINESQUE. 


This  letter  as  above,  strongly  corroborates  our  supposition,  that 
the  authors  of  the  embalmed  mummies  found  in  the  cave  of  Lex- 
ington, were  of  Egyptian  origin.  See  Morse's  Geography,  p. 
500,  and  the  Western  Gazetteer,  p.  103,  states  that  several  hun- 
dred mummies  were  discovered  near  Lexington,  in  a  cave,  bu 
were  wholly  destroyed  by  the  first  settlers. 


A  further  Account  of  Western  Antiquities  with  Antediluvian 

Traits. 

Cincinnati  is  situated  on  one  of  those  examples  of  antiquity, 
of  great  extent.  They  are  found  on  the  upper  level  of  that  town, 
but  none  on  the  lower  one.  They  are  so  conspicuous  as  to  catch 
the  first  range  of  the  eye. 

There  is  every  reason  to  suppose,  that  at  the  remote  period  of 
the  building  of  these  antiquities,  the  lowest  level  formed  part  of 
the  bed  of  the  Ohio.  A  gentleman  who  was  living  near  the  town 
of  Cincinnati,  in  1826,  on  the  upper  level,  had  occasion  to  sink  a 
well  for  his  accommodation,  who  persevered  in  digging  to  the 
depth  of  eighty  feet  without  finding  water,  but  still  persisting  in 
the  attempt,  his  workmen  found  themselves  obstructed  by  a  sub- 
stance, which  resisted  their  labor,  though  evidently  not  stone. 
They  cleared  the  surface  and  sides  from  the  earth  bedded  around 
it,  when  there  appeared  the  slump  of  a  tree,  three  feet  in  diame- 
ter, and  two  feet  high,  which  had  been  cut  down  with  an  axe. 
The  blows  of  the  axe  were  yet  visible.  It  was  nearly  of  the  color 
and  apparent  character  of  coal,  but  had  not  the  friable  and  fusible 

9 


130  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

quality  of  that  substance.     Ten  feet  below,  the  water  sprang  upr 
and  the  well  is  now  in  constant  supply  and  high  repute. 

Reflections  on  this  discovery  are  these:  1st.  That  the  tree  was 
undoubtedly  antediluvian.  2d.  That  the  river  now  called  the 
Ohio,  did  not  exist  anterior  to  the  deluge,  inasmuch  as  the  re- 
mains of  the  tree  were  found  firmly  rooted  in  its  original  position, 
several  feet  below  the  bed  of  that  river.  3d.  That  America  was 
peopled  before  the  flood,  as  appears  from  the  action  of  the  axe  in 
cutting  down  the  tree.  4th.  That  the  antediluvian  Americans 
were  acquainted  with  the  use  and  properties  of  iron,  as  the  rust 
of  the  axe  was  on  the  top  of  the  stump  when  discovered. 

And  why  should  they  not  be  acquainted  with  both  its  properties 
and  utility,  seeing  it  was  an  antediluvian  discovery?  Tubal  Cain 
one  of  the  sons  of  Cain,  the  son  of  Adam,  we  find,  according  to 
Genesis  iv.  22,  was  a  blacksmith,  and  worked  in  iron  and  brassr 
more  than  a  thousand  years  before  the  flood.  It  was  about  500 
years  from  the  creation,  when  Tubal  Cain  is  noticed  in  the  sacred 
history  to  have  been  a  worker  in  brass  and  iron:  but  says  Dr. 
Clarke,  the  commentator,  "  Although  this  is  the  first  smith  on  re- 
cord, who  taught  how  to  make  warlike  instruments  and  domestic 
utensils  out  of  brass  and  iron,  yet  a  knowledge  of  the  metals  must 
have  existed  long  before,  for  Cain  was  a  tiller  of  the  ground,  as 
was  also  Adam,  which  they  could  not  have  been  without  spades, 
hooks,  &c." 

The  Roman  plough  was  formed  of  wood,  being  in  shape  like 
the  anchor  of  a  vessel;  the  ploughman  held  to  one  fluke,  so  as  to 
guide  it,  while  the  other  entered  the  ground,  pointed  with  iron,  and 
as  it  was  drawn  along  by  the  stem,  it  tore  the  earth  in  a  streak, 
mellowing  it  for  the  seed.  Such,  it  is  likely,  was  the  form  of  the 
primative  plough,  from  which,  in  the  progress  of  ages,  improve- 
ments have  been  made,  till  the  present  one,  as  now  formed,  and 
is  the  glory  of  the  well  tilled  field. 

According  to  this  opinion,  it  would  appear,  that  in  the  very  first 
period  of  time,  men  were  acquainted  with  the  metals;  and  as  they 
diverged  from  the  common  centre,  which  was  near  the  garden  of 
Eden,  they  carried  with  them  a  knowledge  of  this  all-important 
discovery.  If  the  stump  is,  indeed,  antediluvian,  we  learn  one 
important  fact,  and  this  is  it:  America,  by  whatever  name  it  was 
called  before  the  deluge,  was  then  a  body  of  earth  above  the  wa- 


AND    DI6C0VERIE6    IN    THE    WEST.  131 

ters,  and  also  was  connected  with  Asia,  where,  it  is  allowed  on 
all  hands,  man  was  originated.  If  it  were  not  connected  with 
Asia,  it  might  be  inquired,  how  then  came  men  in  America  before 
the  flood,  the  traits  of  whose  industry  and  agricultural  pursuits  are 
discovered  in  the  felling  of  this  tree,  as  well  as  a  great  number  of 
other  instances,  of  which  we  shall  speak  by  and  by? 

It  is  not  probable,  that  before  the  flood  there  was  so  small  a 
quantity  of  dry  land  on  the  earth  as  at  the  present  time;  the  wa- 
ters of  the  globe  being  generally  hid  beneath  the  incumbent  soil, 
so  that  an  easy  communication  of  all  countries  with  each  other 
existed;  which  must  have  greatly  facilitated  the  progress  of  man 
in  peopling  and  subduing  it.  We  know  very  well  it  is  said,  "  the 
gathering  together  of  the  waters,  called  He  seas;"  but  it  does  not 
follow  that  they  were  not  subterranean;  and  it  is  more  than  inti- 
mated that  such  was  the  fact,  when  it  is  said,  "all  the  fonntains 
of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up,"  on  the  day  the  flood  com- 
menced. 

But  by  what  means  were  they  broken  up?  This  is  left  to  con- 
jecture, as  the  Scriptures  are  higher  in  their  aim,  than  the  mere 
gratification  of  curious  questions  of  this  sort;  but  in  some  way 
this  was  done.  The  very  terms  "  broken  up,"  signify  the  exer- 
tion of  power  and  violence,  of  sufficient  force  to  burst  at  once 
whole  tracts  of  earth  from  the  face  of  the  deep,  and  also  to  throw 
out,  at  one  wide  rush,  the  central  waters  of  the  globe. 

But  can  we  conceive  of  any  means  made  use  of  to  effect  this, 
other  than  the  direct  pressure  of  God's  power,  sinking  the  earth 
to  the  depths  beneath,  so  that  the  water  might  rise  above,  taking 
the  place  of  the  land?     We  imagine  we  can. 

It  is  well  known,  that  the  velocity  of  the  earth,  in  its  onward 
motion  round  the  sun,  is  about  twenty  miles  a  second,  nearly  the 
speed  of  lightning.  Let  Him,  therefore,  who  at  first  imposed 
this  inconceivable  velocity,  stop  the  earth  in  this  motion  suddenly; 
what  would  the  effect  be?  All  the  fluids,  that  is  the  waters,  whe- 
ther above  ground  or  underneath  it,  would  rush  forward  with  a 
power  equal  to  their  weight,  which  would  be  sufficient  to  burst 
away  mountains,  or  any  impediment  whatever;  and  rushing 
round  the  globe,  rolling  the  mighty  flood  over  all  countries, 
with  a  steady  current,  till  the  waters  again  sought  their  general 
level,  which  commenced  to  take  place  at  the  end  of  five  months 


132  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

from  the  beginning;  when  the  earth  again  went  onward  in  its 
annual  journey.  This  is  our  opinion  of  the  way  how  "all  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  were  broken  up." 

If  the  earth  were  to  be  arrested  in  its  course  now,  the  effect 
would  be  the  same.  Suppose  we  illustrate  the  position  for  a  mo- 
ment. Place  a  vessel  of  water  on  a  plank,  for  instance,  open  on 
the  top,  like  a  common  bowl,  fastened,  so  that  it  should  not  be 
liable  to  overset.  Cause  this  plank  to  move,  at  first  slowly,  but 
increase  its  steady  onward  velocity  as  much  as  the  fluid  will  bear, 
without  causing  a  reaction;  when,  therefore,  its  utmost  speed  is 
obtained,  stop  it  suddenly;  the  effect  would  be,  the  water  in  the 
vessel  would  instantly  fly  over,  leaving  the  bowl  behind.  Such, 
therefore,  we  imagine,  would  be  the  effect,  if  the  earth  were  now 
caused  to  stand  suddenly  still  in  its  orbit;  except  this  difference, 
the  law  of  gravitation  would  prevent  the  waters  of  the  earth  from 
leaving  the  surface,  but  would  cause  a  rapid  current  in  the  direc- 
tion the  earth  is  pursuing. 

It  is  supposed  by  many,  that  were  the  earth  checked  in  its  daily 
or  diurnal  motion  on  its  axis,  that  the  Pacific  would,  in  a  mo- 
ment, rise  mountains  high,  and  commence  to  roll  its  fathomless 
depths  directly  over  the  entire  continent  of  America.  The  At- 
lantic would  do  the  same,  and  sweep  all  Europe,  Asia  and  Africa; 
while  the  Indian  ocean,  which  is  but  the  western  side  of  the  Pa- 
cific, would  follow  on,  and  thus  the  globe  would  again  be  deluged 
by  a  flood.  As  a  reason  for  this  belief,  it  is  shown,  that  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth  moves  at  the  equator,  in  turning  on  its  axis,  at 
the  rate  of  more  than  1,000  miles  an  hour;  a  velocity  about 
equal  to  the  speed  of  a  cannon  ball,  and  were  this  motion, 
checked  suddenly,  it  would,  it  is  supposed,  produce  the  above 
effect. 

But,  if  such  would  be  the  effect,  of  a  sudden  interruption  of 
the  earth's  diurnal  motion,  how  is  it  that  the  earth  was  not  over- 
flowed at  the  time  the  Divine  power,  at  the  request  and  com- 
mand of  Joshua,  the  captain  of  the  conquering  tribes  of  the  He- 
brews stood  still,  jfor  the  space  of  a  whole  day?  In  answer  to 
this,  we  have  but  one  reason  to  offer,  and  this  is  it: — that  the 
matter  of  the  earth's  surface,  would,  the  very  moment  of  such 
an  arrest;  increase  its  gravitating  power,  so  as  exactly  to  coun- 
teract such  a  catastrophe,  or  such  a  tendency  of  its  waters. 


AND    DISC0VERIK6    IN    THE    WEST.  133 

To  show  this  opinion  correct,  we  have  only  to  suppose  the 
diurnal  motion  of  our  planet,  increased  so  much  as  that  it  should 
make  its  revolution  on  its  axis  in  one  hour  instead  of  twenty- 
four.  What  would  he  the  effect?  it  would  cause  every  particle  of 
matter  whether  stone,  timher,  forests,  houses  with  all  the  works 
of  man,  rivers,  lakes,  animals — with  every  human  being  to  be 
thrown  with  all  the  force  of  an  explosion  high  into  the  atmos- 
phere, which  as  it  fell  to  the  earth,  would  be  again  thrown  off  as 
before,  by  which  means  the  earth  would  soon  be  reduced  with  all 
its  appendages  to  a  complete  state  of  Chaos.  If  so,  then  we  have 
a  right  to  our  conclusion,  in  the  inverse  proportion,  which  would 
take  place  were  the  earth  suddenly  caused  to  stand  still  on  its 
axis;  the  gravitating  principle  would  be  increased  in  exact  pro- 
portion as  it  would  be  lessened  in  case  of  an  increased  velocity 
of  the  earth's  surface.  So  that  were  such  a  thing  to  take  place,, 
as  in  the  dajTs  of  Joshua,  not  a  particle  of  the  globe's  surface, 
whether  of  earth  or  water,  would  be  disturbed  on  account  of  the 
faithfulness  of  the  principle  of  gravitation. 

But  to  stop  the  earth  in  its  other  motion,  which  is  performed  in 
its  annual  journey  around  the  sun,  would  not  effect  in  any  way, 
the  principle  above  alluded  to. 

That  such  would  be  the  operations  on  the  earth's  surface,  were 
its  motion,  on  its  axis  increased,  as  we  have  discribed,  is  shown 
from  the  fact  that  a  wheel  of  nine  feet  circumference,  made  of 
wrought  iron,  will  fly  to  attorns,  before  it  reaches  a  velocity  of 
400  feet  to  the  second,  were  a  sufficient  impetus  attached  to  it. — 
Silliman's  Journal. 

That  the  waters  of  the  deluge  came  from  the  west,  is  evident 
from  the  manner  in  which  the  various  strata  of  the  earth  are  situ- 
ated over  the  whole  of  our  country;  and  that  its  motion  was  very 
violent  is  also  evident  from  the  appearance  of  native  or  primitive 
rock  being  found  on  the  top  of  that  which  is  of  secondary  forma- 
tion, and  of  gravel  and  sand,  hills  and  smaller  eminences,  lying 
on  beds  of  clay  and  soils  of  various  kinds  below  it. 

The  effects  of  the  deluge  can  be  traced  in  all  the  earth,  but 
particularly  many  parts  of  America,  about  the  lakes,  and  to  the 
east,  showing  that  the  waters  flowed  in  that  direction.  For  a 
beautiful  and  able  description  of  this  subject,  see  Thomas's  Tra- 
vels, published  at  Auburn,  under  the  head,  The  Deluge. 


134  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

But  it  may  be  inquired,  from  whence  came  water  to  furnish  the 
earth  with  so  long  a  rain  as  of  forty  days  and  nights;  and  from 
whence  originated  vapor  enough  to  becloud  the  whole  circum- 
amibent  atmosphere  of  the  earth  at  once.  Surely  some  cause 
more  than  existed  before  the  flood,  or  since,  must  have  transpired 
at  that  time,  to  have  produced  this  great  accumulation  of  clouds 
and  rain. 

The  answer  is,  we  apprehend,  that  the  central  waters  bursting 
suddenly  from  the  great  deep,  involving  the  whole  globe,  pre- 
sented a  greater  surface  of  that  fluid  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  so 
that  by  its  operation  on  the  face  of  the  waters,  a  dense  mist  or 
vapor  was  at  once  produced  quite  round  the  earth,  which,  in  its 
ascent,  carried  up  incessantly  that  quantity  of  water  which  furn- 
ished the  atmosphere  for  so  long  and  so  dreadful  a  storm,  and 
justify  the  expression,  "  and  the  windows  of  heaven  were  opened." 

By  some  it  has  been  imagined  that  the  flood  of  Noah  was  pro- 
duced by  the  near  approach  of  a  comet,  the  waters  of  which  at- 
tracted the  waters  of  the  globe  from  the  depths  so  as  to  deluge 
the  earth.  But  this  opinion  is  not  admissible,  as  the  same  comet 
which  by  the  laws  of  gravitation  would  be  compelled  to  follow 
the  same  track  or  orbit,  would  long  ere  this  time  have  deluged 
the  world  several  times,  which  has  not  taken  place.  Others  have 
supposed  that  the  poles  have  been  entirely  shifted.  If  such  may 
have  been  the  fact,  it  is  true  the  earth  would  have  been  easily 
flooded,  as  the  frozen  oceans,  with  two  continents  of  ice,  would 
have  been  placed  suddenly  beneath  the  rays  of  a  vertical  sun, 
the  effect  of  which  would,  even  now,  were  such  a  catastrophe  to 
take  place,  bring  on  a  universal  deluge,  equal  to  that  of  Noah's. 
Also  the  whirl  and  shifting  of  the  waters  of  the  ocean  would 
have  contributed  greatly  to  this  effect.  Jn  support  of  this  theory, 
it  is  shown  that  in  the  high  northern  latitudes,  banks,  and  even  the 
entire  bodies  of  equatorial  animals  have  been  found  imbeded  in 
the  ice,  which  have  been  brought  to  light  by  unusual  thaws. 
Even  in  the  most  dreary  and  desolate  northern  regions  are  found 
in  great  quantities  >the  tropical  plants  and  trees  in  a  state  of  pre- 
servation. 

But  these,  we  believe,  are  to  be  accounted  for,  not  on  the  prin- 
ciple of  the  shifting  of  the  poles,  but  rather  by  the  arrest  of  the 
globe  in  its  orbit  round  the  sun,  occasioning  a  rapid  current  of  the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  135 

waters  of  the  earth  eastwardly,  which,  as  the  strata  of  the  earth 
generally  shows,  was  the  fact,  would  produce  the  appearances  as 
above  stated  by  the  lateral  flow  of  the  waters  round  the  earth 
from  the  equator  toward  the  poles. 

To  the  arrest  of  the  earth  in  its  orbit,  it  may  be  objected,  that 
if  such  had  been  the  fact,  the  globe  would  have  fallen  during  that 
time  a  great  way  toward  the  sun  ;  to  which  we  assert,  that  the 
same  power  which  could  arrest  the  earth  in  so  extraordinary  a 
manner  could  also  hold  it  suspended  in  its  true  place,  till  the  effect 
should  be  accomplished  for  which  the  arrest  was  designed. 

In  this  way  the  surface  of  the  earth  was  ruined  ;  a  dispropor- 
tionate quantity  of  water,  caused  to  appear  on  the  surface,  while 
in  the  same  ratio  the  land  is  sunk  to  the  depths  below. 

Sixteen  hundred  years  and  rising,  was  the  space  of  time  al- 
lowed from  the  creation  till  the  flood ;  a  time  quite  sufficient  to 
people  the  whole  earth,  even  if  it  were  then  enjoying  a  surface  of 
dry  land,  twice  as  much  as  it  does  at  the  present  time,  being  but 
about  one-fourth;  and  America,  as  appears  from  this  one  monu- 
ment, the  stump  of  Cincinnati,  was  a  part  of  the  earth  which 
was  peopled  by  the  antediluvians. 

The  celebrated  antiquarian,  Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  late  of  New- 
York,  with  other  gentlemen,  eminent  for  their  knowledge  of  natu- 
ral history,  are  even  of  the  opinion,  that  America  was  the  country 
where  Adam  was  created.  In  a  letter  to  Governor  De  Witt  Clin- 
ton, in  which  this  philosopher  argued  the  common  origin  of  the 
people  of  America,  and  those  of  Asia,  he  says  : — "  I  avoid  the 
opportunity  which  this  grand  conclusion  affords  me,  of  stating 
that  America  was  the  cradle  of  the  human  race;  of  tracing  its  co- 
lonies westward  over  the  Pacific  ocean,  and  beyond  the  sea  of 
Kamschatka,  to  new  settlements  ;  of  following  the  emigrants  by 
land  and  water,  until  they  reached  Europe  and  Africa.  I  had  no 
inclination  to  oppose  the  current  opinions  relative  to  the  place  of 
man's  creation  and  dispersion.  I  thought  it  was  scarcely  worth 
while  to  inform  an  European,  that  in  coming  to  America  he  had 
left  the  new  world  behind  him,  for  the  purpose  of  visiting  the  old. 
— American  Antiquarian  Society,  p.  331.) 

But  this  opinion  cannot  obtain,  if  we  place  the  least  reliance  on 
the  statement  of  Moses,  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  who  gives  a  cir- 
cumstantial account  of  the  place  of  man's  creation,  by  stating  the 


136  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

names  of  the  very  rivers  arising  out  of  the  regions  of  country  call- 
ed Paradise;  such  as  Pison,  Havilah,  Gihon,  Hiddekel,  and  Eu- 
phrates; or  as  they  now  are  called,  Phasis,  Araxes,  Tigris,  and 
Euphrates  ;  this  last  retains  its  original  name. 

No  such  rivers  are  known  in  America,  nor  the  countries  through 
which  they  flow.  Here  are  data  to  argue  from,  but  the  position, 
or  rather  the  suggestion,  of  Prof.  Mitchell,  has  absolutely  no  data 
whatever.  If  but  a  tradition  favoring  that  opinion  were  found  even 
among  the  Indians,  it  would  afford  some  foundation  ;  but  as  their 
tradition  universally  alludes  to  some  part  of  the  earth,  far  away, 
from  whence  they  came,  it  would  seem  exceedingly  extravagant 
to  argue  a  contrary  belief. 

This  one  stump  of  Cincinnati,  we  consider,  surpasses  in  conse- 
quence the  magnificence  of  all  the  temples  of  antiquity,  whose 
forsaken  turrets,  dilapidated  walls,  tottering  and  fallen  pillars, 
which  speak  in  language  loud  and  mournful,  the  story  of  their 
ruin  ;  because  it  is  a  remnant  of  matter,  in  form  and  fashion, 
such  as  it  was,  before  the  earth  "  perished  by  water,"  bearing  on 
its  top  the  indubitable  marks  of  the  exertion  of  man,  of  so  remote 
a  time.  • 

It  is  not  impossible  but  America  may  have  been  the  country 
where  Noah  built  his  ark,  as  directed  by  the  Most  High.  We 
know  very  well,  when  the  mind  refers  to  the  subject  of  Noah's 
ark,  our  thoughts  are  immediately  associated  with  Mount  Ararat, 
because  it  rested  there,  on  the  subsiding  of  the  flood.  But  this 
circumstance  precludes  a  possibility  of  its  having  been  built  there, 
if  we  allow  the  waters  of  the  deluge  to  have  had  any  current  at 
all.  It  is  said  in  Genesis  that  the  ark  floated,  or  was  borne  upon 
the  waters  above  the  earth,  and  also  that  the  ark  "  went  upon  the 
face  of  the  xcaters."  From  which  fact  we  imagine  there  must 
have  been  a  current,  or  it  could  not  have  went  upon  the  waters. 
Consequently,  it  went  from  the  place  where  it  was  built,  being 
obedient  to  this  law  of  nature. 

Now,  if  it  had  been  built  any  where  in  the  country  called  Ar- 
menia, where  the  mountain  Ararat  is  situated  ;  and  as  it  is  found 
the  waters  had  a  general  eastern  direction,  the  ark  in  going  on  the 
the  face  of  the  waters  would  have,  during  the  time  the  waters  of 
deluge  prevailed,  which  was  one  hundred  and  fifty  days,  or  five 
months,  gone  in  an  eastern  direction  as  far  perhaps  as  the  regions 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WE6T.  137 

of  the  islands  of  Japan,  beyond  China,  east,  a  distance  of  about 
6000  miles  from  Ararat,  which  would  be  at  the  rate  of  about  forty- 
miles  a  day,  or  if  it  had  floated  faster,  would  have  carried  it  into 
the  Pacific  ocean. 

But  if  we  may  imagine  it  was  erected  in  North  America,  or  some 
where  in  the  latitude  of  the  state  of  New  York,  or  even  farther 
west,  the  current  of  the  deluge  would  have  borne  it  easterly.  And 
suppose  it  may  have  been  carried  at  the  rate  of  forty  or  fifty  miles 
a  day,  would,  during  the  time  the  waters  prevailed,  in  which  time, 
we  may  suppose,  a  current  existed,  have  progressed  as  far  as  to 
Ararat,  a  distance  of  nearly  6000  miles  from  America,  where  it 
did  actually  rest. 

More  than  1600  years  had  elapsed  when  the  ark  was  finished, 
and  it  may  fairly  be  inferred,  that  as  Noah  was  born  about  1000 
years  after  the  creation  of  the  world,  that  mankind  had,  from  ne- 
cessity, arising  from  the  pressure  of  population,  gone  very  far 
away  from  the  regions  round  about  Eden  ;  and  the  country  where 
Noah  was  born  may  as  well  bo  supposed  to  have  been  America, 
as  any  other  part  of  the  earth;  seeing  there  are  indubitable  signs 
of  antediluvian  population  in  many  parts  of  it.  Unite  this  circum- 
stance with  that  of  the  ascertained  current  of  the  deluge  from 
America,  and  with  the  fact  of  the  ark's  having  rested  in  an  east- 
erly direction  from  this  country,  we  come  to  a  conclusien,  that 
here,  perhaps,  in  the  very  state  of  New- York,  the  miraculous 
vessel  was  erected,  and  bore  away,  treasured  in  its  enormous 
capacity,  the  progenitors  of  the  human  race  renewed.  So  that 
if  America  have  not  the  honor  of  being  the  country  where  Adam 
was  created,  as  is  believed  by  some,  it  has,  nevertheless  the 
honor,  as  we  suppose,  of  being  the  country  where  the  ark  was 
erected. 

It  is  not  to  be  supposed,  thai  more  than  1600  years  could  pass 
away,  without  the  antediluvians  having  enjoyed  the  advantages 
of  art  and  science,  seeing  these  are  the  natural  results  of  human 
society.  The  ark  itself  is  a  demonstration  that  even  ship  building 
was  known,  or  how  could  Noah  have  understood  what  was  meant, 
when  it  was  said  to  him,  "  build  an  ark  or  vessel  of  gopher 
wood,"  &c. 

This  supposition  of  the  antediluvians  having  a  knowledge  of 
letters  or  their  equivalents,  is  maintained  by  discoveries  made  on 


138  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIE8 

opening  the  vast  heaps  of  bricks  which  formed  the  tower  of 
Babel.  These  bricks,  it  appears,  were  much  larger  and  thicker 
^than  the  same  article  is  now  made,  as  they  are  found  to  be  some- 
thing over  a  foot  square  and  three  inches  thick.  On  many  of 
these,  as  stated  by  M.  Beaucham,  a  French  traveller  and  astrono- 
mer, who  visited  Babylon  in  1781,  are  engraven  unknown  charac- 
ters and  hieroglyphics.  On  one  brick  he  found  a  lion  presented 
in  relief,  which  shows  that  the  mould  in  which  the  brick  was  form- 
ed, had  the  form  of  this  animal  carved  or  cut  into  the  timber  or 
metal  of  which  the  mould  was  made.  On  another  he  found  the 
shape  of  a  half  moon  formed  in  the  same  manner.  One  of  the 
masons  who  was  employed  in  digging  brick  from  these  ruins,  told 
M.  Beauchamp,  that  there  were  often  found,  little  cells  which  con- 
tained images  of  the  human  shape  formed  of  clay,  and  that  on 
one  brick  which  had  been  taken  from  thence,  were  represented  in 
varnish  the  figures  of  a  cow,  and  of  the  sun  and  moon,  which 
shows  they  had  also  a  knowledge  of  painting,  and  delineation 
which  belongs  to  the  fine  arts. — (See  Evening  Recreations,  vol. 
1,  p.  62,  1830.) 

Now  it  is  not  reasonable  to  suppose  that  the  art  of  letters,  faint- 
ing, and  sculpture  were  all  found  out  during  the  short  space,  from 
the  time  the  ark  rested  on  Ararat,  till  the  time  of  the  commence- 
ment of  the  building  of  that  tower  ;  and  we  will  add  also,  the 
knowledge  of  brick  making,  and  of  architecture.  Ts  it  not,  there- 
fore, clear  that  all  these  were  known  and  practised  by  the  antedil- 
uvians ? 

This  knowledge  was,  therefore,  received  from  the  family  of 
Noah,  and  especially  from  Shem  or  Melchesideck,  who,  it  ap- 
pears, in  leaving  the  ark  came  westward  from  its  resting  place 
with  some  one  of  the  colonies,  who  settled  the  land  of  Shinar. 

The  invention  of  letters,  is  attributed  to  the  Phoenicians,  but  the 
secret  is,  that,  doubtless,  to  Shem  or  Melchesideck  this  art  was 
known,  and  taught  ;  as  well  also,  as  the  positions  of  the  con- 
tinents of  the  globe. 

Shem  could  therefore  tell  the  latitude  of  the  ancient  seat  of  Pa- 
radise, though  he  may  have  been  born  in  America,  and  though 
the  flood  has  destroyed  the  beauty  and  towering  grandeur  of  the 
pristine  situation  of  the  seat  of  Adam. 

In  Morse's  Universal  Geography,  first  volume,  page  142,  the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WE8T.  139 

discovery  of  the  stump  is  corroborated  :  M  In  digging  a  well  in 
Cincinnati,  the  stump  of  a  tree  was  found  in  a  sound  state,  ninety- 
feet  below  the  surface  ;  and  in  digging  another  well,  at  the  same 
place,  another  stump  was  found,  at  ninety-four  feet  below  the  sur- 
face which  had  evident  marks  of  the  axe  ;  and  on  its  top  there 
appeared  as  if  some  iron  tool  had  been  consumed  by  rust." 

The  axe  had,  no  doubt,  been  struck  into  the  top  of  the  stump, 
when  the  horrors  of  the  deluge  first  appeared,  in  the  bursting  forth 
of  the  waters  from  above,  from  the  windows  of  heaven  ; — when 
sounds  terrific,  from  the  breaking  forth  of  the  waters  of  the  great 
deep,  and  from  the  shock  all  sensitive  beings  must  have  felt  when 
the  earth  was  caused  to  stand  still  it  its  onward  course  around  the 
sun.  Remember  Joshua,  at  whose  command  and  prayer,  God 
stopped  the  earth  for  the  space  of  a  whole  day,  but  not  its  onward 
course  around  the  sun,  but  its  diurnal  motion  only,  which  could 
not  have  any  effect  on  the  fluids  of  the  earth,  as  the  sudden  in- 
terruption of  the  other  motion  would  have  had. 

Who  would  not  flee,  when  phenomena  so  terrible,  without  pre- 
sage or  warning,  were  changing  the  face  of  things,  and  the  feel- 
ings of  the  atmosphere  ;  the  earth  quivering  like  an  aspen  leaf  ; 
forests  leaning  to  the  east,  and  snapping  asunder  in  one  awful 
crash  over  all  the  wide  wilderness  ;  rocks  with  mountains  tumb- 
ling from  their  summits;  the  stoutest  heart  would  quail  at  such  an 
hour  as  this ;  an  axe,  with  all  things  else,  would  be  left  by  the 
owners,  and  a  general  flight,  if  they  could  stand  at  all  on  their 
feet,  would  take  place,  they  knew  not  whither. 

In  one  of  the  communications  of  the  admired  Dr.  Samuel  L. 
Mitchell,  professor  of  Natural  History,  to  the  American  antiqua- 
rian society,  mention  is  made  of  a  certain  class  of  antiquities  as 
distinguished  entirely  from  those  which  are  found  in  and  about  the 
mounds  of  the  west,  as  follows  :  In  the  section  of  country  about 
Fredonia,  on  the  south  side  of  lake  Erie,  are  discovered  objects 
deservedly  worthy  of  particular  and  inquisitive  research.  This 
kind  of  antiquities,  present  themselves  on  digging  from  thirty  to 
fifty  feet  below  the  present  surface  of  the  ground.  "  They  occur 
in  the  form  of  fire  brands,  split  wood,  ashes,  coals,  and  occasion- 
ally tools  and  utensils,  buried  to  those  depths."  This,  it  will  be 
perceived,  is  much  below  the  bed  of  lake  Erie,  of  consequence 
must  have  been  antediluvian,  and   agrees  with  the  discovery   of 


140  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

the  stumps  at  Cincinnati.  "  We  are  informed,  that  in  Rhode  Is- 
land, New  Jersey,  Maryland,  North  Carolina,  and  in  Ohio,  such 
discoveries  have  been  made."  He  says,  "  I  wish  the  members  of 
the  society  would  exert  themselves  with  all  possible  diligence  to  as- 
certain and  collect  the  facts  of  this  description.  They  will  be  ex- 
ceedingly curious,  both  for  the  geologist  and  historian.  After 
such  facts  shall  have  been  collected  and  methodised,  we  may  per- 
haps draw  some  satisfactory  conclusions  ;  light  may  possibly  be 
shed  upon  the  remote  Pelasgians,  and  upon  the  traditionary  At- 
lantides,"  the  inhabitants  of  the  island,  we  have  before  spoken 
of,  Atalantis. 

But  we  cannot  allow  the  discoveries  made  at  this  vast  depth,  to 
belong  to  any  age,  or  to  any  of  the  works  of  man  this  side  of  the 
deluge,  as  that  time  enough  has  not  elapsed  since  that  catastrophe, 
to  allow  the  decomposition  of  vegetables,  nor  of  convulsions,  to 
have  buried  these  articles  so  deep  beneath  the  surface  extending 
over  so  great  a  tract  of  country.  The  draining  of  lakes,  how- 
ever sudden,  could  never  have  had  so  wide  and  universal  an 
effect. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  that  we  are  compelled  to  refer  them 
to  the  works  of  man  beyond  the  flood,  which,  by  the  overflowing 
of  the  waters,  and  the  consequent  ruin  of  the  original  surface, 
these  works,  with  their  makers,  have  been  thus  buried. 

In  evidence,  that  the  ocean,  at  some  period  in  ages  past,  over- 
whelmed the  American  continent,  we  notice,  from  the  "  British 
Spy, '  page  112,  an  account  of  the  discovery  of  the  skeleton  of  a. 
whale,  in  Virginia  : 

"  Near  Williamsburgh  has  recently  deen  discovered,  by  a  farm- 
er, while  digging  a  ditch  through  a  plat  of  ground,  about  five  feet 
below  the  surface,  a  considerable  portion  of  the  skeleton  of  a 
whale.  Several  fragments  of  the  ribs,  and  other  parts,  were 
found,  with  the  whole  of  the  vertebra,  or  backbone,  regularly  ar- 
ranged, and  very  little  impaired  as  to  figure.  The  spot  where  it 
was  found  is  about  two  miles  from  James  river,  and  about  sixty 
from  the  sea.  In  the  same  region,  at  depths  of  from  sixty  to  nine- 
ty and  an  hundred  feet,  having  been  found  the  teeth  of  sharks." 
In  every  region  of  the  earth,  as  well  as  America,  and  on  the 
highest  mountains,  are  found  the  bones  and  shells  of  the  ancient 
inhabitants  of  the  sea.     From  the  universality  of  those  appear- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    US    THE    WEST.  141 

ances,  we  conclude  they  were  deposited  and  cast  thither  by  the 
billows  of  the  deluge. 

From  the  discoveries  of  articles  of  the  utensil  character,  the 
bones  of  whales,  the  teeth  of  sharks,  and  the  stumps  of  Cincinnati, 
at  various  depths,  as  stated  above  ;  we  are  led  to  the  conclusion, 
that  the  original  surface,  of  what  is  now  called  America,  was 
perhaps  not  much  disturbed;  but  was  rather  suddenly  overwhelm- 
ed from  the  west,  by  the  bursting  forth  of  the  subterranean  Paci- 
fic, which,  till  then,  had  been  covered  with  land,  mountains  and 
vales,  thickly  peopled. 

The  vast  depths  of  strata  of  loam,  sand,  clay,  gravel,  and 
stone,  which  lie  over  each  other,  evincing,  from  the  unnatural 
manner  of  their  positions,  that  they  were  thrown  furiously  over 
the  whole  continent,   furnished  from  the  countries  of  the  west. 

That  such  may  indeed,  have  been  the  fact,  is  favored  from  the 
discovery  of  the  whale's  skeleton,  found  on  James  river,  which 
could  never  have  been  deposited  there  by  other  means  than  the 
flood;  forced  onward,  till  killed  by  the  violence  and  agitation  of 
the  wood,  stone,  and  earth  encumbered  waters,  and  sunk  finally 
down. 

The  pottery  of  the  ancient  nations,  mentioned  by  Schoolcraft, 
found  at  the  vast  depth  of  eighty  feet,  and  even  at  greater  depths, 
at  the  great  Saline  in  Illinois,  is  evidence  of  an  antediluvian  po- 
pulation in  America. 

We  have  examined  the  blade  of  a  sword  found  in  Philadelphia, 
now  in  Peel's  Museum,  in  New  York,  which  was  taken  out  of  the 
ground  something  more  than  sixty  feet  below  the  surface.  The 
blade  is  about  twenty  inches  in  length,  is  sharp  on  one  edge,  with  a 
thick  back,  a  little  turned  up  at  the  point,  with  a  shank  drawn  out 
three  or  four  inches  long,  on  which  was  doubtless,  inserted  in  the 
handle,  and  clenched  at  the  end. 

It  is  known  that  the  sword  of  all  ancient  nations  was  very  short, 
on  which  account,  their  wars  on  the  field  of  battle,  were  but  an 
immense  number  of  single  combats. 

At  Cincinnati  there  is  a  barrow  or  mound  of  human  bones,  si- 
tuated exactly  on  the  edge  of  the  bank,  that  overlooks  the  lower 
town,  the  principal  street  leading  from  the  water  is  cut  through  it, 
and  exposes  its  strata  and  remains  to  every  person  passing  by. 
Seven  tiers  of  skeletons  lay  plainly  in  sight,  where  the  barrow  had 


142  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

caved  away,  from  its  being  undermined.  Among  the  earth  thus 
fallen  down,  were  found  several  stone  hatchets,  pieces  of  pottery, 
and  a.  flute,  made  of  the  great  bone  of  the  human  leg.  This  is  a 
very  curious  instrument,  with  beautifully  carved  figures,  repre- 
senting birds,  squirrels,  and  small  animals,  with  perforated  holes, 
in  the  old  German  manner,  which,  when  breathed  into,  emitted 
tones  of  great  melody. 

Among  the  modern  Indians,  no  such  instrument  has  ever  been 
found.  At  the  time  when  the  street  was  opened  through  this  bar- 
row of  the  dead,  a  great  variety  of  interesting  and  valuable  relics 
were  brought  to  light  ?  among  which  were  human  double  teeth, 
which,  on  a  moderate  calculation,  bespoke  men  as  large  again  as 
the  present  race.  Also  some  brass  rings,  which  were  considered 
exceedingly  curious  ;  an  instance  of  which  is  similar  to  the  one 
before  mentioned  in  this  work.  Iron  rings,  as  we  have  before 
stated,  were  anciently  used  among  the  Britons  before  the  Chris- 
tian era,  as  money  ;  and  possibly  in  this  case,  the  brass  rings 
found  in  this  barrow,  may  be  a  specimen  of  the  ancient  money  of 
America. 


Discovery  of  an  Ivory  Image  in  a  Bone  Mound  at  Cincinnati* 

In  the  same  barrow  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  was  dis- 
covered an  ivory  image,  which  we  consider  more  interesting,  and 
surpasses  any  discovery  yet  mentioned.  It  is  said  to  be  now  in  the 
cabinet  of  rare  collections,  once  in  the  possession  of  the  illustrious 
Jefferson. 

The  account  of  the  image  is  as  follows:  it  is  seven  inches  high; 
the  figure  full  length;  the  costume,  a  robe,  in  numberless  folds, 
well  expressed,  and  the  hair  displayed  in  many  ringlets;  the  child 
naked,  near  the  left  breast,  and  the  mothers  eye  bent  on  it  with 
a  strong  expression  of  affection  and  endearment. 

There  are  those  who  think  it  a  representation  of  the  mother  of 
our  Lord's  humanity, with  the  child  Jesus  in  her  arms.  The  Ro- 
man Catholics  have  availed  themselves  of  this  image,  and  made  it 
a  testimony  of  the  antiquity  of  their  religion,  and  of  the  extensive 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    WEST.  143 

range  of  their  worship,  by  attempting  to  prove  thereby,  that  the 
idol  was  nothing  else  than  a  Madona  and  child,  the  virgin  Maryr 
and  the  child  Jesus;  and  that  the  Roman  Catholic  religion  was  the 
first  which  arose  in  the  earliest  Christian  age  in  the  east,  and  the 
last  which  set  in  the  west,  where  it  became  extinct,  by  means  of 
a  second  deluge. 

The  idea,  however,  of  a  second  deluge,  is  inadmissible,  as  it 
would  have  destroyed  every  vestige  of  the  mounds,  pyramids, 
tumuli,  and  fortifications,  of  which  this  work  treats  ;  many  of 
which  are  supposed  older  than  the  Christian  era;  and  the  mound 
in  which  the  image  itself  was  discovered  would  also  have  been 
destroyed. 

There  is,  however,  another  opinion,  which  is  not  impossible 
may  have  furnished  the  imagination  with  materials  for  the  ori- 
gin of  such  a  representation.  The  image  may  be  of  Greek 
origin,  and  taken  from  Isaiah  the  prophet,  7th  chap.,  14th  verse, 
where  it  is  said: — "  Behold  a  virgin  shall  conceive  and  bear  a 
son."'  This  prophecy  of  Isaiah  was  known  to  the  Greeks,  for 
the  Old  Testament  was  translated  into  their  language  in  the  time 
of  Ptolemy  Philadelphus,  king  of  Egypt,  nearly  three  hundred 
years  before  the  Christian  era. — (See  Adam  Clarke's  General 
Preface  to  the  Old  Testament,  p.  27,  and  is  known  as  the  Septua- 
gint  version.) 

The  Greek  statuaries  may,  in  this  way,  have  easily  found  the 
beautiful  and  captivating  idea  of  a  virgin  mother,  by  reading 
Isaiah  in  the  Greek — a  work  fraught  with  all  the  grandeur  of 
images  inspired  by  God  himself,  and  could  not  fail  to  challenge 
the  reading  of  every  learned  man  of  the  empire  ;  and  such 
were  the  statuaries,  among  the  Greeks,  the  fame  of  whose  exqui- 
site skill  in  this  respect, will  go  down  on  the  historic  page  to  latest 
time. 

From  the  Greeks,  such  an  image,  celebrating  the  idea  of  a  vir- 
gin mother  and  her  child,  may  have  easily  come  into  the  posses- 
sion of  the  Romans;  as  the  Greeks  were,  soon  after  the  transla- 
tion of  the  Hebrew  scriptures  into  the  Greek,  subdued  by  the  Ro- 
mans, who,  in  their  conquests  here  and  there  over  the  earth,  in- 
cluding Europe,  England,  Scotland,  and  the  northern  islands,  car- 
rying that  kind  of  image  with  them  as  a  god,  or  talisman,  and 
from  thence  to  America. 


144  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES. 

It  is,  however,  not  impossible,  but  it  may  be  indeed  of  true 
Roman  Catholic  origin;  as,  at  the  time  the  Romans  evacuated 
Europe, with  its  isles,  Ireland,  England,  &c.,  about  the  year  450, 
this  church  had  risen  to  great  importance  in  the  Roman  empire, 
which  aided  her  to  establish  her  altars  in  every  country  they 
had  conquered.  Consequently,  long  before  the  Scandinavians 
colonized  Iceland,  Greenland,  and  Labrador,  on  the  American 
continent,  the  Christian  religion  was  planted  in  the  north  of  Eu- 
rope; first  in  France,  in  the  year  496,  and  then  soon  after  in 
England;  and  so  on  farther  north  among  the  ancient  Scandina- 
vians, Norwegians,  &c,  and  by  these  to  Iceland  and  Green- 
land; who  may  have  also  brought  this  trait  of  that  church  to 
America. 

Another  relic  of  antiquity,  discovered  at  Cincinnati,  is  a  sphe- 
rical stone,  found  on  the  fall  of  a  large  portion  of  the  bank  of  the 
river.  It  is  a  green  stone,  twelve  inches  in  diameter,  divided 
into  twelve  sides,  and  each  side  into  twelve  equal  parts,  and  each 
part  distinguished  by  hieroglyphical  engravings.  This  beautiful 
stone,  it  is  said,  is  lodged  in  the  Cabinet  of  Arts,  at  Philadel- 
phia. It  is  supposed  the  stone  was  formed  for  astronomical  cal- 
culations, conveying  a  knowledge  of  the  movements  of  the  heav- 
enly bodies. 


Ji  Cavern  of  the  West,  in  which  are  found  many  interesting 
Hieroglyphics,  supposed  to  have  been  made  by  the  Ancient 
Inhabitants. 

On  the  Ohio,  twenty  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  Wabash,  is 
a  cavern,  in  which  are  found  many  hieroglyphics,  and  represen- 
tations of  such  delineations  as  would  induce  the  belief  that  their 
authors  were,  indeed,  comparatively  refined  and  civilized.  It  is 
a  cave  in  a  rock,  or  ledge  of  the  mountain,  which  presents  itself 
to  view,  a  little  above  the  water  of  the  river,  when  in  flood,  and  is 
situated  close  to  the  bank.  In  the  early  settlement  of  Ohio,  this 
cave  became  possessed  by  a  party  of  Kentuckians,  called  "  Wil- 


145 

f  to  this 
!gn-post 
Liquor 
:h  a  ta- 
call  for 
stances, 
r  which 
the  cla- 
of such 
of  rob- 
•ews  of 
i  boats, 
3re  sell 
ave  by 
i  party 
II  good 

try  be- 
ns, and 
specta- 
of,  and 

cry  of 
d  to  m- 

of  the 
)ut  that 
e  cause 
lion  at 

mouth 
ew  Or- 
nments 
stained 

party; 
3lf  was 

reward 

five  in 
se,  and 
.    The 


AND    DISCOVBRIES    IN    THE    WEST.  145 

■son's  Gang."  Wilson,  in  the  first  place,  brought  his  family  to  this 
cave,  and  fitted  it  up  as  a  spacious  dwelling  ;  erected  a  sign-post 
on  the  water  side,  on  which  were  these  words:  "  Wilson's  Liquor 
Vault,  and  House  of  Entertainment."  The  novelty  of  such  a  ta- 
vern induced  almost  all  the  boats  descending  the  river  to  call  for 
refreshments  and  amusement.  Attracted  by  these  circumstances, 
several  idle  characters  took  up  their  abode  at  the  cave,  after  which 
it  continually  resounded  with  the  shouts  of  the  licentious,  the  cla- 
mor of  the  riotous,  and  the  blasphemy  of  gamblers.  Out  of  such 
•customers,  Wilson  found  no  difficulty  in  forming  a  band  of  rob- 
bers, with  whom  he  formed  the  plan  of  murdering  the  crews  of 
every  boat  that  stopped  at  his  tavern,  and  of  sending  the  boats, 
manned  by  some  of  his  party,  to  New  Orleans,  and  there  sell 
their  loading  for  cash,  which  was  to  be  conveyed  to  the  cave  by 
land,  through  the  States  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky;  the  party 
returning  with  it  being  instructed  to  murder  and  rob,  on  all  good 
occasions,  on  the  road. 

After  a  lapse  of  time,  the  merchants  of  the  upper  country  be- 
gan to  be  alarmed,  on  finding  their  property  make  no  returns,  and 
their  people  never  coming  back.  Several  families  and  respecta- 
ble men,  who  had  gone  down  the  river,  were  never  heard  of,  and 
the  losses  became  so  frequent,  that  it  raised,  at  length,  a  cry  of 
individual  distress  and  general  dismay.  This  naturally  led  to  in- 
quiry, and  large  rewards  were  offered  for  the  discovery  of  the 
perpetrators  of  such  unparalleled  crimes.  It  soon  came  out  that 
Wilson,  with  an  organized  party  of  forty-five  men,was  the  cause 
©f  such  waste  of  blood  and  treasure;  that  he  had  a  station  at 
Hurricane  island,  to  arrest  every  boat  that  passed  by  the  mouth 
of  the  cavern,  and  that  he  had  agents  at  Natchez  and  New  Or- 
leans, of  presumed  respectability,  who  converted  his  assignments 
into  cash,  though  they  knew  the  goods  to  be  stolen,  or  obtained 
by  the  commission  of  murder. 

The  publicity  of  Wilson's  transactions  soon  broke  up  his  partv; 
some  dispersed,  others  were  taken  prisoners,  and  he  himself  was 
killed  by  one  of  his  associates,  who  was  tempted  by  the  reward 
offered  for  the  head  of  the  captain  of  the  gang. 

This  cavern  measures  about  twelve  rods  in  length,  and  five  in 
width;  its  entranc3  presents  a  width  of  eighty  feet  at  its  base,  and 
twenty-five  feef  high.     The  interior  walls  are  sniooth  rock.    The 

Uo 


146  AMERICAN    ANTKUfc'lTIKP 

floor  is  very  remarkable,  being  level  through  the  whole  length  of 
its  centre,  the  sides  rising  in  stony  grades,  in  the  manner  of  seats 
in  the  pit  of  a  theatre.  On  a  diligent  scrutiny  of  the  walls,  it  is 
plainly  discerned  that  the  ancient  inhabitants  at  a  very  remote 
period,  had  made  use  of  the  cave  as  a  house  of  deliberation  and 
council.  The  walls  bear  many  hieroglyphics,  well  executed,  and 
some  of  them  represent  animals,  which  have  no  resemblance  to 
any  now  known  to  natural  history. 

This  cavern  is  a  great  natural  curiosity,  as  it  is  connected  with 
another,  still  more  gloomy,  which  is  situated  exactly  above,  uni- 
ted by  an  aperture  of  about  fourteen  feet;  which,  to  ascend,  is 
like  passing  up  a  chimney,  while  the  mountain  is  yet  far  above. 
Not  long  after  the  dispersion  and  arrest  of  the  robbers,  who  had 
infested  it,  in  the  upper  vault  were  found  the  skeletons  of  about 
sixty  persons,  who  had  been  murdered  by  the  gang  of  Wilson,  as 
was  supposed. 

But  the  tokens  of  antiquity  are  still  more  curious  and  impor- 
tant than  a  description  of  the  mere  cave,  which  are  found  en- 
graved on  the  sides  within,  an  account  of  which  we  proceed  to 
give: 

1.  The  sun,  in  different  stages  of  rise  and  declension;  the  moon, 
under  various  phases;  a  snake,  biting  its  tail,  and  representing  an 
orb  or  circle;  a  viper;  a  vulture;  buzzards  tearing  out  the  heart 
of  a  prostrate  man;  a  panther  held  by  the  ears  by  a  child;  a  cro- 
codile; several  trees  and  shrubs;  a  fox;  a  curious  kind  of  hydra 
serpent;  two  doves;  several  bears;  two  scorpions;  an  eagle;  an 
owl;  some  quails;  eight  representations  of  animals  which  are  now 
unknown.  Three  out  of  the  eight  are  like  the  elephant  in  all  re- 
spects except  the  tusk  and  the  tail.  Two  more  resemble  the  tiger; 
one  a  wild  boar;  another  a  sloth;  and  the  last  appears  a  creature 
of  fancy,  being  a  quadrumane,  instead  of  a  quadruped,  the  claws 
being  alike  before  and  behind,  and  in  the  act  of  conveying  some- 
thing to  the  mouth,  which  lay  in  the  centre  of  the  monster.  Be- 
sides these  were  several  fine  representations  of  men  and  women, 
not  naked,  but  clothed;  not  as  the  Indians,  but  much  in  the  costume 
of  Greece  and  Rome. 

We  must  at  once  perceive  that  these  objects,  with  an  excep- 
tion or  two,  were  employed  by  the  ancient  Greeks  to  display  the 
nature  of  the  world,  the  omnipotence  of  God,  the  attributes  of 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  147 

man,  and  the  utility  of  rendering  his  knowledge  systematic  and 
immortal. 

All  human  sciences  flourished  among  the  Egyptians  long  before 
they  were  common  to  any  other  people;  the  Grecians  in  the  days 
of  Solon,  about  600  b.  c  ;  Pythagoras,  about  the  same  time ; 
Herodotus,  about  450  b.  c.  ;  and  I'lato,  a  little  later,  acquired 
in  Egypt  all  that  knowledge  of  nature,  which  rendered  them  so 
eminent  and  remarkable.  But  the  Egyptian  priests  did  not  di- 
vulge their  doctrines,  but  by  the  aid  of  signs  and  figurative  em- 
blems. Their  manner  was,  to  discover  to  their  auditors  the 
mysteries  of  God  and  nature,  in  hieroglyphics  ;  which  were  cer- 
tain visible  shapes  and  forms  of  creatures,  whose  incJinations 
and  dispositions  led  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truths  intended  for 
instruction.  All  their  divinity,  philosophy,  and  their  greatest  se- 
crets, were  comprehended  in  these  ingenious  characters,  for  fear 
they  should  be  profaned  by  a  familiar  acquaintance  with  the  com- 
monalty. 

It  requires  but  a  rapid  and  cursory  view  of  the  heiroglyphics 
above  enumerated,  to  convince  us  of  design;  and  also,  that  the 
cavern,  wherein  they  are  found  engraved,  was  originally  a  place 
of  worship  or  of  council.  The  sun,  the  most  glorious  of  all 
visible  beings,  represented  their  chief  god,  and  received  their  ado- 
ration for  causing  all  the  vegetation  of  the  earth  to  bring  forth  its 
increase. 

2.  The  moon  denoted  tho  next  most  beautiful  object  in  the 
creation,  and  was  worshipped  for  her  own  peculiar  usefulness  : 
and,  more  particularly,  for  supplying  the  place  of  the  departed 
sun 

3.  The  snake,  in  the  form  of  an  orb,  or  circle,  biting  its  (ail, 
pointed  out  the  continual  mutation  of  creatures,  and  the  change  of 
matter,  or  the  perpetual  motion  of  the  world  itself  ;  if  so,  this  con 
struction  of  that  hieroglyphic,  the  snake,  agrees  with  the  Greek 
figure  of  the  same  kind,  which  implies  that  the  world  feeds  upon 
itself,  and  receives  from  itself  in  return,  a  continual  supply  for 
renovation  and  nourishment;  the  same  symbol  designated  the  year 
which  revolves  -round,  and  ends  where  it  first  began,  like  the  ser- 
pent with  its  tail  in  its  mouth.  It  is  believed  the  ancient  Greeks 
gave  it  this  meaning. 

4.  The  viper,  the  most  venomous  of  all  creatures,  was  the  env 

10* 


148  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

blem  of  the  devil,  or  wicked  angel:  for,  as  its  poison  is  quick 
and  powerful,  so  is  the  destroying  spirit,  in  bringing  on  man- 
kind evils  which  can  only  be  opposed  by  the  grace  and  power  of 
God. 

5.  The  vulture,  tearing  out  the  bowels  of  a  prostrate  man, 
seems  a  moral  intending  to  reprove  fierceness  and  cruelty.  Dr. 
Rush  says  this  hieroglyphic  represents  intemperance,  and  by  them 
was  so  understood. 

6.  The  panther,  held  by  the  ears  by  a  child,  was  meant  to 
impress  a  sense  of  the  dominion  of  innocence  and  virtue  over 
oppression  and  vice;  or  perhaps  it  bore  the  Greek  meaning  of  a 
wretch  encompassed  with  difficulties  which  he  vainly  attempts  to 
avoid., 

7.  The  crocodile,  from  its  power  and  might,  was  another  sym- 
bol of  the  Great  Spirit;  or  its  being  the  only  creature  without  a 
tongue,  might  have  given  it  a  title  to  the  same  honor.  All  hea- 
then nations  concur  in  representing  their  gods  beholding  and  doing 
all  things  in  heaven  and  earth  in  profound  silence. 

8.  The  several  trees  and  shrubs  were  undoubtedly  emblematical 
of  particular  virtues,  as  represented  in  this  temple,  the  cave,  from 
a  veneration  for  their  aromatic  and  healing  properties.  Among 
the  ancients,  we  know  that  the  palm  tree  and  the  laurel  were  em- 
blems of  victory  and  deserved  honor,  the  myrtle  of  pleasure,  the 
cedar  of  eternity,  the  oak  of  strength,  the  olive  of  fruitfulness,  the 
vine  of  delight  and  joy,  and  the  lily  of  beauty.  But  what  those 
in  the  cave  imply,  it  is  not  possible  to  determine,  as  nothing  of 
their  character  can  be  deduced  from  the  manner  they  were  sketch- 
ed on  the  surface  of  a  rough  wall,  the  design  obscured  by  smoke, 
or  nearly  obliterated  from  the  effect  of  damp,  and  the  gradual  de- 
cay of  time. 

9.  The  fox,  from  every  authority,  was  put  to  denote  subtlety 
and  craftiness. 

10.  The  hydra  serpent  probably  signified  malice  in  envy — 
passions  which  the  hieroglyphic  taught  mankind  to  avoid. 

11.  The  two  doves  were  hieroglyphics  of  constancy  and  love; 
all  nations  agree  in  this,  in  admiring  the  attachment  of  doves* 

12.  The  bears,  it  is  apprehended,  signify  industry,  labor  and 
patience;  for  the  Indians  believe  the  cubs  of  the  bear  come  into  the 
world  with  misshapen  parts,  and  that  their  eyes,  ears,  and  other 


AND    DI8COVERIES    IN     THE    WEST. 


149 


members  are  licked  into  form  by  the  mother,  who  passes  days  in 
that  anxious  and  unceasing  employ. 

13.  The  scorpions  were  calculated  to  inspire  a  detestation  for 
malignity  and  vice;  even  the  present  race  of  Indians  hold  these 
animals  in  great  disgust,  healing  wounds  inflicted  by  them  with  a 
preparation  of  their  own  blood. 

14.  The  eagle  represents  and  is  held  to  this  day  as  the  emblem 
of  a  great,  noble  and  liberal  mind;  fierce  in  war,  conquering  the 
enemy,  and  protecting  his  friends;  he  among  the  Indians  who  can 
do  this,  is  compared  with  the  eagle. 

15.  The  owl  must  have  been  set  up  to  deter  men  from  deceit 
and  hypocrisy.  He  cannot  endure  the  light  of  the  sun,  nor  can 
hypocrisy  bear  that  of  truth  and  sincerity.  He  may  have  been 
the  emblem  of  death  and  wretchedness,  as  among  the  Egyptians; 
or  of  victory  and  prosperity,  when  in  a  flying  attitude,  as  among 
the  Greeks. 

16.  The  quails  afford  no  clue  to  their  hieroglyphic,  unless  they 
signify  the  corn  season,  and  point  out  the  time  for  the  usage  of 
some  peculiar  rites  and  ceremonies  of  a  religious  nature.  With 
the  Greeks  they  were  emblematical  of  impiety,  from  a  belief  that 

they  enrage   and  torment  themselves  when  the  crescent  of  the  new 
moon  appears. 

17.  The  representations  of  the  larger  animals  were  doubtless 
indicative  of  the  power  and  attributes  of  the  Great  Spirit.  The 
mammoth  showing  his  greatness,  the  tiger  his  strength,  and  the 
boar  his  wrath,  the  sloth  his  patience,  and  the  nondescript  his 
hidden  virtues,  which  are  past  finding  out. 

18.  The  human  figures  are  more  definite,  and  afford  inferences 
more  certain,  on  account  of  the  dress  they  are  represented  in, 
which  resembles  the  Roman.  The  figures  would  be  taken  for 
European  antiquities,  were  it  not  for  the  character  and  manner  of 
the  heads.  The  dress  of  these  figures  consisted  of  a  carbasus, 
or  rick  cloak  ;  a  sabucala,  or  waistcoat,  or  shirt ;  a  supparum, 
or  breeches,  open  at  the  knees  ;  solea,  or  sandals,  tied  across  the 
toes  and  heels  ;  the  head  embraced  by  a  bandeau,  crowned  with 
flowers. 

19.  The  dress  of  the  females,  carved  in  this  cave,  have  a  Gre- 
cian cast,  the  head  encircled  by  the  crown,  and  was  confined  by 
a  bodkin;  the  remaining  part  of  this  costume  was  Roman.  The 
garments  called   stolla,  or   perhaps  the  toga  pura,  flounced  from 


1'60  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

the  shoulders  to  the  ground  ;  an  indusium  appeared  underneath  ; 
the  indusium  was  confined  under  the  breast,  by  a  zona  or  cestus  ; 
and  sandals,  in  the  manner  of  those  of  the  men. 

Could  all  this  have  been  produced  by  the  mere  caprice  of 
aboriginal  artizans  ?  We  think  not.  They  have,  in  this  in- 
stance, either  recorded  their  own  manners  in  the  one  particular 
of  costume,  or  they  have  represented  that  of  others,  who  had 
come  among  them  as  strangers,  and  wonderfully  induces  the 
belief,  that  such  were  Greeks,  Romans,  or  some  nation  of  the 
earth  whose  mode  of  dress  was  similar.  Viewed  in  the  most 
critical  manner,  this  instance  of  American  antiquity  cannot  fail 
to  excite  in  the  mind  surprise,  when  we  contrast  this  with  the 
commonly  received  opinion  that  Columbus  was  the  first  discoverer 
of  this  country. 

The  hieroglyphic  carved  in  this  cave,  which  represents  a  child 
holding  or  leading  a  panther,  brings  forcibly  to  the  mind  a  similar 
idea  in  the  Hebrew  scriptures,  in  the  book  of  Isaiah,  chapter  14, 
6th  verse, where  it  is  said,  the  wolf,  the  leopard  and  the  young  lion 
shall  be  led  by  a  child;  and  relates  to  the  period  when  both  natu- 
ral and  moral  evil  shall  have  no  existence  in  the  earth,  as  is  be- 
lieved by  some. 

In  this  cave,  it  appears,  there  are  sketched  on  the  rock  the 
figures  of  several  animals,  now  extinct  ;  among  which,  are 
three,  much  resembling  the  elephant,  the  tail  and  tusks  excepted. 
It  would  be  passing  the  bounds  of  credulity  to  suppose  the  ar- 
tists who  delineated  those  figures  would  represent  no  less  than 
eight  animals,  different  in  their  configuration,  one  from  the  other,, 
which  had  in  reality  no  being,  and  such  as  had  never  been  seen. 

We  suppose  the  animals  resembling  the  elephant  to  have  been 
the  mammoth,  and  that  those  ancients  were  well  acquainted  with 
the  creature,  or  they  could  never  have  engraved  it  on  the  rock. 
Job,  of  the  scriptures, who  was  a  native  of  the  land  of  Uz,  in  Idu- 
mea,  which  is  situated  southwest  of  the  lake  Asphaltides,  or  sea 
cf  Sodom,  was  also  well  acquainted  with  this  animal.  (See  Job, 
chapter  40.)  "  Behold  now  behemoth,  which  I  made  with  thee  ; 
he  eateth  grass  as  an  ox.  Lo,  now  his  strength  is  in  his  loins,  and 
his  force  in  the  naval  of  his  belly.  He  moveth  his  tail  like  a  ce- 
dar; the  sinews  of  his  loins  ai-e  wrapped  together.  His  bones  are 
as  strong  pieces  of  brass;  his  bones  are  like  bars  of  iron.  He  is 
the  chief  of  the  ways  of  God.''' 


AJVD    DI&COVEIUK8    I.N    THE    V. £«T.  151 

Whoever  has  examined  the  skeleton  of  one  of  those  animals, 
now  in  the  Philadelphia  Museum,  will  acknowledge  the  bones  are 
equal  to  bars  of  brass  or  iron.  Its  height  over  the  shoulders, 
eleven  feet;  from  the  point  of  the  nose  to  the  end  of  the  tail, 
following  the  exterior  curve,  is  twenty-one  feet  ;  a  single  tooth 
weighs  four  pounds  ten  ounces.  The  rib  bones  are  six  inches  in 
width,  and  in  thickness  three.  The  whole  skeleton  as  it  is,  with 
the  exception  of  a  few  bones,  weighs  one  thousand  pounds. 

But  how  tremendous  must  that  animal  have  been,  to  which  the 
tooth  weighing  twenty-five  pounds,  found  in  the  earth  at  Cincin- 
nati belonged,  more  than  five  times  the  dimensions  of  the  one  de- 
scribed above  ;  arguing,  from  proportion,  that  is,  if  a  tooth  be- 
longed to  a  skeleton  weighing  one  thousand  pounds,  was  found  to 
be  four  pounds  ten  ounces  ;  a  tooth  weighing  twenty- five  pounds, 
would  give  a  skeleton  of  more  than  five  thousand  pounds.  And 
if  the  calculation  be  carried  forward  in  this  sort  of  proportion, we 
shall  produce  an  animal  more  than  forty  feet  high,  and  nearly  a 
hundred  in  length,  with  a  proportionable  thickness. 

What  would  be  the  sensation,  were  we  to  meet  an  animal  of 
this  sort  in  his  ancient  haunts;  it  would  almost  appear  a  moving 
mountain.  But  add  to  this  the  enormous  eyes  of  the  animal,  set 
at  a  frightful  distance  from  each  other, with  an  amplitude  of  fore- 
head between,  clothed  like  the  side  of  a  hill,  with  a  forest  of 
shaggy  hair;  a  mouth,  gaping  like  some  drear  cavern,  set  round 
with  teeth  sufficient  to  crush  a  buffalo  at  a  mouthful;  its  distended 
nostrils  emitting  vapor  like  the  puffs  of  a  steamboat, with  a  sound, 
when  breathing,  that  might  be  heard  afar;  the  legs  appearing  in 
size  of  dimensions  sufficient  to  bear  a  ship  on  his  shoulders;  and 
his  feet  or  paws  spread  out  like  a  farmer's  corn  fan,  armed  with 
claws  like  flukes  to  an  anchor  of  a  vessel  of  war;  the  tail,  as  it 
is  said  in  Job,  waving  to  and  fro,  like  a  cedar  bending  before  the 
wind.  But  add  to  all  this  anger;  let  him  but  put  his  fierceness 
O'l,  his  eyes  flash  fire,  his  tail  elevated  aloft,  lashing  the  ground, 
here  and  there,  at  a  dreadful  distance  from  his  body;  his  voice 
like  the  double  rolling  of  thunder,  jarring  the  wilderness ;  at 
which  every  living  thing  would  tremble  and  drop  to  the  earth. 
Such  an  animal  would  indeed  be  the  "chief  of  the  ways  of  God." 
It  would  be  perfectly  safe  in  the  midst  of  a  tornado  in  the  wilder- 
ness; no  tree,  or  a  forest  of  them,  could  possibly  harm  the  mon- 


152  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ster  by  falling  against  it.     It  would  shake  them  off,  as  smaller 
animals  do  flies  in  a  summer's  day. 

The  one  in  Peale's  Museum,  of  which  we  have  spoken,  a  page 
or  two  back,  is  one  out  of  nine  skeletons  of  this  monster,  which 
were  dug  out  of  the  earth  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Shongum 
mountain,  in  Ulster  county,  on  the  southwestern  side  of  the  State 
of  New-York,  eight  of  which  were  sent  to  Europe — (See  Spaf- 
ford's  Gazeteer  of  New-York.) 

Near  Rochester,  in  the  State  of  New-York,  in  1833,  two  teeth 
of  this  animal  were  discovered,  but  a  small  depth  beneath  the  sur- 
face. They  were  found  in  the  town  of  Perrinton,  near  Fullam's 
Basin,  some  time  ago,  by  Mr.  William  Mann,  who  was  engaged 
in  digging  up  a  stump.  They  were  deposited  about  four  feet  be- 
low the  surface  of  the  earth.  These  were  in  a  tolerably  good 
state  of  preservation  ;  the  roots  begin  to  crumble  a  little,  but  the 
enamel  of  the  teeth  is  in  almost  a  perfect  state.  The  teeth  were 
the  grinders,  and  from  their  appearance,  were  located  in  the  back 
part  of  the  upper  jaw.  The  largest  one  weighs  three  pounds  and 
ten  ounces,  measuring  six  inches  lengthwise  of  the  jaw,  and  three 
inches  across  the  top,  the  root  is  about  six  inches  long  with  several 
prongs.  The  other  tooth  is  smaller.  If  we  are  to  suppose  this 
animal  to  have  the  same  number  of  teeth  that  other  animals  com- 
monly have,  and  that  the  rest  of  the  teeth  were  of  the  same  pro- 
portions, as  to  size,  the  circle  of  the  jaw  from  one  end  to  the  other 
must  have  been  six  feet.  Again,  if  we  were  to  estimate  the  com- 
parative size  of  this  tooth  with  that  of  a  large  ox,  and  from  thence 
infer  the  size  of  the  animal  to  which  this  tooth  belonged,  we  should 
probably  find  that  its  size  was  forty  times  larger  than  our  largest 
oxen.  A  forest  of  trees  would  soon  be  .nibbled  to  their  roots  by  a 
herd  of  such  animals  as  these  ;  and  the  western  continent  would 
prove  a  small  enough  pasture  for  a  moderate  number  of  them. 

Dr.  Adam  Clarke  mentions,  in  his  commentary  on  the  subject 
of  this  animal,  denominated  behemoth  in  Job,  40th  chapter,  15th 
verse,  that  he  had  weighed  one  of  the  very  smallest  grinders  of  an 
animal  of  this  supposed  extinct  race,  and  found  it,  in  its  very  dry 
state,  to  weigh  "  four  pounds  eight  ounces  ,"  "  the  same  grinder 
of  an  elephant,  says  Dr.  Clarke,  I  have  weighed  also,  and  find  it 
but  two  pounds  ;  the  mammoth,  therefore,  continues  this  great 
author,  from  this  proportion,  must  have  bearr  as  large  as  two  ele 


AND  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  153 

phants  and  a  quarter."  If,  then,  an  animal  of  this  kind,  having 
a  tooth  weighing  only  four  pounds  and  eight  ounces,  was  more 
than  twice  as  large  as  an  ordinary  elephant,  how  unwieldily  and 
monsterous  must  have  been  the  animal  to  which  the  tooth  just 
mentioned,  weighing  twenty-Jive  pounds,  once  belonged,  arguing- 
from  proportion,  as  Dr.  Clarke  has  done.  The  same  author  in 
his  Biilical  Commentary  on  the  first  book  of  Genesis  says,  that 
from  a  considerable  part  of  a  skeleton  which  he  had  seen  and  ex- 
amined, it  was  computed  that  the  animal,  when  living,  must  have- 
been  nearly  twenty-five  feet  high  and  sixty  feet  in  length  ;  the 
bones  of  one  toe  were  entire,  and  were  something  more  than  three 
feet  long.  The  height  of  the  animal,  as  computed  by  Dr.  Clarke,, 
will  agree  well  with  the  observations  of  travellers.  In  the  vicinity 
of  May's  lick,  or  Salt  spring,  in  the  state  of  Kentucky,  there  are 
several  holes,  marked  in  such  a  manner  as  to  proclaim  at  once,, 
that  they  were  formed  by  animals  wallowing  in  them,  after  they 
had  bathed  and  satiated  themselves  with  the  waters  of  the  foun- 
tain; these  were  the  works  of  buffaloes,  deer,  and  other  small  ani- 
mals. But  the  same  appearance  are  evident  in  some  banks  in  the 
neighborhood,  which  were  hollowed  in  a  semi- circular  manner, 
from  the  action  of  beasts  rubbing  against  them,  and  carrying  off 
quantities  of  the  earth  on  their  hides,  forming  a  thick  coat,  to  de- 
fend against  the  stings  of  numberless  flies,  like  the  rhinoceros  of 
Africa.  One  of  those  scooped  out  hollow  banks,  appeared  as  if 
an  hundred  thousand  loads  of  soil  might  have  been  carried  off  ; 
the  hieght  of  the  wasted  bank,  where  it  was  affected  by  attrition, 
was  at  least  twenty-five  feet.  The  other  animals  being  smaller, 
could  get  down  and  up  again  from  their  wallowing,  with  ease  and 
quickness;  but  the  mammoths  were  compelled,  from  their  size,  to- 
lean  against  some  hill  or  mountain,  so  as  to  coat  their  hide  with 
earth. 

Near  this  spot  are  often  found  the  frames  of  this  animal,  sunk 
in"kthe  mire.  In  the  state  of  Missouri,  White  river  and  Straw- 
berry river,  are  certain  ranges  of  mountains,  at  whose  base,  in  a, 
certain  spot,  are  found  "large  quantities  of  these  bones  gathered! 
in  a  small  compass,  which  collection  was  doubtless  occasioned  by 
the  appetite  these  animals  had  for  prey,  and  had  been  attracted 
thither,  on  account  of  other  animals  flocking  to  the  salt  licks,  at 
that  place;  the  mammoths,  following,  became  mired  when  they 


154  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ventured  too  far,  in  pursuit,  into  the  marsh,  and  of  course  the 
struggles  of  the  last  one  would  sink  the  bones  of  his  predecessor 
still  deeper.  Thus,  these  collections  are  easily  accounted  for, 
although,  at  first,  it  seems  very  strange  to  see  these  bones  accu- 
mulated, like  those  of  some  of  the  extinct  Indian  tribes  of  the 
west." — (Beck's  Gazetteer  of  Illinois  and  Missouri,  p.  332.  J 

Adam  Clarke  supposes  the  behemoth  to  have  been  a  carnivo- 
rous animal.  See  his  remarks  on  this  monster,  in  his  Commentary 
on  Job,  40th  chapter,  15th  verse  :  "  The  behemoth,  on  the  con- 
trary, (i.  e.  in  opposition  to  the  habits  of  the  hippopotamus  and 
elephant,)  is  represented  as  a  quadruped  of  a  ferocious  nature, 
and  formed  for  tyranny,  if  not  rapacity;  equally  lord  of  the  floods 
and  of  the  mountains  ;  rushing  with  rapidity  of  foot,  instead  of 
slowness  or  stateliness;  and  possessing  a  rigid  and  enormous  tail, 
like  a  cedar  tree,  instead  of  a  short  naked  tail  of  about  a  foot 
long,  as  the  hippopotamus,  or  a  weak,  slender,  hog-shaped  tail, 
as  the  elephant. " 

Job  says,  c.  xl.  v.  17,  that  he  (this  monster)  moveth  his  tail  like 
a  cedar,  that  is,  its  motions  were  like  those  of  a  tall  cedar  tree 
moved  slowly  one  way  and  the  other  by  the  wind,  which  explicitly 
and  emphatically  marks  the  monstrousncss  of  this  creature's  size. 
"  He  moveth  his  tail  like  a  cedar,'"  slowly  one  way  and  the  other; 
exactly  as  the  lion,  the  tiger,  or  the  leopard,  in  the  motions  of  this 
limb,  especially  when  angry,  or  watching  for  their  prey;  on  which 
account,  it  is  probable,  Job  has  seen  fit  to  make  mention  of  this 
peculiar  motion  of  the  animal ;  and  also  it  is  an  evidence  of  the 
overwhelming  power  or  strength  of  the  mammoth.  He  was,  in- 
deed, as  it  is  said  in  Job,  "  the  chief  of  the  ways  of  God,"  in  the 
.creation  of  animals. 

At  St.  Helen's  point,  north  of  Guayaquil,  in  the  republic  of 
Colombia,  South  America,  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific,  on  the  equa- 
tor, are  found  the  enormous  remains  of  this  animal.  The  Peruvian 
tradition  of  those  bones  is,  that  at  this  very  point  once  landed, 
from  some  unknown  quarter  of  the  earth,  a  colony  of  giants,  who 
mutually  destroyed  each  other.  At  New  Granada  in  the  same 
province,  and  on  the  ridge  of  the  Mexican  Cordilleras,  vast  quan- 
tities of  the  remains  of  this  huge  beast  are  found. — (Humboldt  s 
Researches  in  South  America.) 

The  remains  of  a  monster  recently  discovered  en  the  bank  of 


AJ.D    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  156 

the  Mississippi,  in  Louisiana,  seventeen  feet  under  ground,  maybe 
considered  as  the  greatest  wonder  of  the  west.  The  largest  bone, 
which  was  thought  to  be  the  shoulder  blade  or  jaw  bone,  is  twenty 
feet  long,  three  broad,  and  weighed  1200  pounds.  The  aperture 
in  the  vertebra*,  or  place  for  the  pith  of  the  back  bone,  is  six  by 
nine  inches  calibre  ;  supposed  when  alive  to  have  been  125  feet 
in  length.  The  awful  and  tremendous  size  of  what  this  creature 
must  have  been,  to  which  this  shoulder  blade  or  jaw  bone  belong- 
ed, when  alive,  is  almost  frightful  to  think  of. 

In  President  Jefferson's  Notes  on  Virginia,  we  have  the  follow- 
ing as  the  tradition  of  the  Indians  respecting  this  animal,  which 
they  call  the  big  buffalo,  and  assert  that  he  is  carnivorous,  as  Dr. 
Clarke  contends,  and  still  exists  in  the  northern  parts  of  America. 

"  A  delegation  of  warriors  from  Ihe  Delaware  tribe  visited  the 
government  of  Virginia,  during  the  Revolution,  on  matters  of  busi- 
ness ;  after  this  had  been  discussed,  and  settled  in  council,  the 
governor  asked  some  questions  relative  to  their  country,  and 
among  others,  what  they  knew  or  had  heard  of  the  animal  whose 
bones  were  found  at  the  licks  on  the  Ohio. 

"  Their  chief  speaker  immediately  put  himself  into  an  attitude 
of  oratory,  and  with  a  pomp  suited  to  what  he  conceived  the  eleva- 
tion of  his  subject,  informed  him  that  it  was  a  tradition  handed 
down  from  their  fathers,  that  in  ancient  times  a  herd  of  these  tre- 
mendous animals  came  to  the  Big-bone  lick,  and  began  an  univer- 
sal destruction  of  the  bear,  deer,  elk,  buffaloes  and  other  animals 
which  had  been  created  for  the  use  of  the  Indians.  And  that  the 
Great  Man  above,  looking  down  and  seeing  this,  was  so  enraged, 
that  he  seized  his  lightning,  descended  on  the  earth,  seated  himself 
on  a  neighboring  mountain,  on  a  certain  rock,  where  the  print  of 
his  feet  are  still  remaining,  from  whence  he  hurled  his  bolts  among 
them,  till  the  whole  were  slaughtered,  except  the  big  bull  ;  who, 
presenting  his  forhead  to  the  shafts  shook  them  off  as  they  fell  ; 
but  at  length  one  of  them  missing  his  head  glanced  on  his  side, 
wounding  him  sufficiently  to  make  him  mad;  whereon,  springing 
round,  he  bounded  over  the  Ohio  at  a  leap,  then  over  the  Wabash 
at  another,  the  Illinois  at  a  third,  and  a  fourth  leap  over  the  great 
lakes,  where  he  is  living  at  this  day." 

"  A  Mr.  Stanley,  taken  prisoner  by  the  Indians  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Tennessee  river,  relates  that  after  being  transferred  through 


156  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

several  tribes,  was  at  length  carried  over  the  mountains  west  of 
the  Missouri,  to  a  river  which  runs  westwardly  ;  that  these  bones 
abounded  there,  and  that  the  nations  described  to  him  the  animal 
to  which  these  belonged,  as  still  living  in  the  northern  parts  of 
their  country." 

Mr.  Jefferson  contends,  at  page  77  of  his  Notes  on  Virginia^ 
that  this  animal  is  not  extinct.  "  It  may  be  asked,"  says  this  phil- 
osopher, "  why  I  insert  the  mammoth  as  if  it  still  existed.  I  ask 
in  return,  why  I  should  omit  it,  as  if  it  did  not  exist  ?  The 
northern  and  western  parts  still  remain  in  their  aboriginal  state, 
unexplored  and  undisturbed  by  us,  or  by  others  for  us.  He  may 
as  well  exist  there  now  as  he  did  formerly,  where  we  find  his 
bones.  If  he  be  a  carnivorous  animal,  as  some  anatomists  have 
conjectured,  and  the  Indians  affirm,  his  early  retirement  to  deeper 
wilds,  may  be  accounted  for,  from  the  great  destruction  of  the 
wild  game,  by  the  Indians,  which  commenced  the  very  first  instant 
of  their  connexion  with  us,  for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  match- 
coats,  hatchets,  and  guns,  with  their  skins."  The  description  of 
this  monster's  habits,  as  given  by  the  Delaware  chief,  has  a  sur- 
prising agreement  with  the  account  of  the  behemoth  given  by  Job, 
especially  at  this  verse: — ""Surely  the  mountains  bring  him  forth 
food,  where  all  the  beasts  of  the  field  play."  "  He  frequents 
those  places,  (say's  Dr.  Clarke,)  where  he  can  have  most  prey  ; 
he  makes  a  mock  of  all  the  beasts  of  the  field.  They  can  neither 
resist  his  power  nor  escape  his  agility.  It  appears  to  have  been 
a  many-toed  animal  ;  the  springs  which  such  a  creature  could 
make  must  have  been  almost  incredible  ;  nothing  by  swiftness 
could  have  escaped  its  pursuit.  God  seems  to  have  made  it  as 
the  proof  of  his  power,  and  had  it  been  prolific,  and  not  become 
extinct,  it  would  have  depopulated  the  earth  of  both  men  and 
animals. 


Tracks  of  Men  and  Animals  in  the  Rocks  of  Tennessee  and 

elsewhere. 

Among  the  subjects  of  antiquity,    which  are  abundant  on  the 
American  continent,  we  give  the  following,  from  Morse's  Univer- 


AND    DISCOVERIS    IN    THE    WEST.  157 

■sal  Geography,  which  in  point  of  mysteriousness  is  not  surpassed, 
perhaps,  on  the  globe.  In  the  state  of  Tennessee,  on  a  certain 
mountain,  called  the  enchanted  mountain,  situated  a  few  miles 
south  of  Braystown,  which  is  at  the  headwaters  of  the  Tennessee 
river,  are  found  impressed  in  the  surface  of  the  solid  rock,  a  great 
number  of  tracks,  as  turkies,  bears,  horses,  and  human  beings,  as 
perfect  as  they  could  be  made  on  snow  or  sand.  The  human 
tracks  are  remarkable  for  having  uniformly  six  toes  each,  like 
the  Anakims  of  Scripture  ;  one  only  excepted,  which  appears  to 
be  the  print  of  a  negro's  foot.  One,  among  those  tracks,  is  dis- 
tinguished from  the  rest,  by  its  monstrousness,  being  of  no  less 
dimensions  than  sixteen  inches  in  length,  across  the  toes  thirteen 
inches,  behind  the  toes,  where  the  foot  narrows  toward  the  instep, 
seven  inches,  and  the  heel  ball  five  inches.  One  also  among 
the  tracks  of  the  animals,  is  distinguished  for  its  great  size  :  it  is 
the  track  of  a  horse,  measuring  eight  by  ten  inches;  nearly  the 
size  of  a  half  bushel  measure,  and  perhaps  the  horse  which  the 
great  warrior  led  when  passing  this  mountain  with  his  armv. 
That  these  are  the  real  tracks  of  the  animals  they  represent,  ap- 
pears from  the  circumstance  of  this  horse's  foot  having  slipped 
several  inches,  and  recovered  again  ;  the  figures  have  all  the 
same  direction,  like  the  trail  of  a  company  on  a  journey.  Not 
far  from  this  very  spot,  are  vast  heaps  of  stones,  which  are  the 
supposed  tombs  of  warriors,  slain,  in  the  very  battle  this  big 
footed  warrior  was  engaged  in,  at  a  period  when  these  mountains 
which  give  rise  to  some  branches  of  the  Tugulo,  Apalachcola, 
and  Iliwassa  rivers,  were  in  a  state  of  soft  and  clayey  tex- 
ture. On  this  range,  according  to  Mexican  tradition,  was  the 
holy  mountain  ;  temple  and  cave  of  Olami,  where  was  also  a 
city  and  the  seat  of  their  empire,  more  ancient  than  that  of 
Mexico.  To  reduce  that  city,  perhaps,  was  the  object  of  the 
great  warrior,  whose  track  with  that  of  his  horse  and  company, 
still  appear. 

We  are  of  the  opinion,  that  these  tracks,  found  sunk  in  the 
surface  of  the  rocks,  of  this  mountain,  is  indubitable  evidence  of 
their  antiquity,  going  back  to  the  time  when  men  dispersed  over 
the  earth,  immediately  after  the  flood. 

At  the  period  when  this  troop  passed  the  summit  of  this  moun- 
tain, the  rock   was  in   a  soft  and   yielding  state;  time,  therefore, 


168  AJU  ERICA  N    ANTIQUmtfi 

sufficient  for  it  to  harden  to  its  present  rocky  consistency,  is  the 
argument  of  the  great  distance  of  time  elapsed  since  they  went 
over  it.  It  is  probable  the  whole  of  these  mountains,  out  of 
which  arise  the  branches  of  the  rivers  above  alluded  to,  were,  at 
the  time  when  the  deluge  subsided,  but  a  vast  body  of  clay;  for 
even  now,  the  surface,  where  it  is  not  exposed  to  the  rays  of  the 
sun,  is  of  a  soft  texture,  capable  of  being  cut  with  a  knife,  and 
appears  to  be  of  the  nature  of  the  pipe  stone.  In  order  that 
those  tracks  might  retain  their  shape  against  the  operation  of 
rains,  the  clay  must  have  been  of  a  tough  and  oily  nature;  and 
hardened  by  slow  degrees,  after  having  been  brought  to  feel  the 
influence  of  the  sun's  rays,  and  drying  nature  of  the  winds. 
The  changing  and  revolutionising  consequences  of  the  flood,  it 
is  likely,  unbared  these  bodies  of  clay  from  the  depths  of  the 
earth,  by  washing  off  all  the  other  kinds  of  strata,  not  so  adhesive 
as  is  the  nature  of  this  clay;  out  of  which  these  ranges  of  stone 
mountains  have  been  made,  some  eighteen  hundred  years  later 
than  the  original  creation. 

In  the  wild  and  savage  country  of  Guiana,  in  South  America, 
are  mountains  of  a  prodigious  height,  on  whose  smooth  and  per- 
pendicular sides,  which  seem  once  to  have  been  a  barrier  to 
mighty  waters,  are  engraved;  at  a  surprising  distance  from  their 
base,  the  figures  of  animals;  also  the  sun,  moon,  and  stars,  with 
other  hieroglyphical  signs.  The  tradition  respecting  them,  among 
the  natives,  is  that  their  ancestors,  in  a  time  of  great  waters 
came  in  canoes,  to  the  tops  of  these  mountains,  and  that  the  stones 
were  then  so  soft,  and  plastic,  that  men  could  easily  trace  marks 
on  them  with  their  fingers,  or  with  sticks.  These  rocks,  it  would 
appear,  were  then  in  a  state  similar  to  those  in  Tennessee,  which 
also  had  retained  the  impressions  made  on  them  by  the  feet  of 
the  traveller.  But  these  mysterious  traces  found  on  the  mountain 
in  Tennessee,  are  not  the  only  impressions  of  the  kind.  Mr.  School- 
craft, in  his  travels  in  the  central  parts  of  the  Mississippi  regions, 
informs  us,  that  on  the  limestone  strata  of  rock,  which  forms  the 
shores  of  the  Mississippi,  and  along  the  neighborhood  of  St 
Louis,  were  found  tracks  of  the  human  foot,  deeply  and  perfectly 
impressed  in  the  solid  stone.  But  two  traces  of  this  sort  have 
been,  as  yet,  discovered;  these  are  the  same  represented  on  the 
plate,  as  given  by  Schoolcraft. 


AND    DISCOVKRIKS    IN    T1IK    WUT.  15i> 

M  The  impressions  in  the  stone  are,  to  all  appearances,  those  of 
a  man  standing  in  an  erect  posture,  with  the  left  foot  a  little  ad- 
vanced, and  the  heels  drawn  in.  The  distance  between  the  heels, 
by  accurate  measurment,  is  six  inches  and  a  quarter,  and  between 
the  extremities  of  the  toes,  thirteen  and  a  half.  The  length  of 
these  tracks  is  ten  and  a  quarter  inches,  across  the  toes  four 
inches  and  a  half,  as  spread  out,  and  but  two  and  a  half  at  the 
heel.  Directly  before  the  prints  of  these  feet,  within  a  few 
inches, is  a  well  impressed  and  deep  mark,  having  some  resemblance 
to  a  scroll,  a  roll  of  parchment,  two  feet  long,  by  a  foot  in  width. 

To  account  for  these  appearances,  two  theories  are  advanced; 
one  is,  that  they  were  sculptured  there  by  the  ancient  nations: 
the  other,  that  they  were  impressed  there  at  the  time  when  the 
rock  was  in  a  plastic  state;  both  theories  have  their  difficulties, 
but  we  incline  to  the  latter,  because  the  impressions  are  strikingly 
natural,  says  Mr.  Schoolcraft,  exhibiting  even  the  muscular 
marks  of  the  foot,  with  great  precision  and  faithfulness  to  nature, 
and  on  this  account,  weakens,  in  his  opinion,  the  doctrine  of  their 
being  sculptured  by  the  ancient  nations.  But  why  there  are  no 
others  going  to  and  from  these,  is  unaccountable,  unless  we  may 
suppose  the  rest  of  this  rock,  at  that  time,  was  buried  by  earth, 
brush,  grass,  or  some  kind  of  covering.  If  they  were  sculptured 
why  not  other  specimens  appear;  this  one  isolated  effort  of  the 
kind,  would  seem  unnatural. — (See  the  plate  xchich  is  a  true  fac 
simile  of  those  tracks.) 


Cotubamana^  ike  Giant  Chief. 

On  the  subject  of  the  stature  of  the  Patagonians,  we  have  the 
following  remarks  of  Morse,  the  geographer.  "  We  cannot, 
without  a  charge  of  unreasonable  scepticism,  deny  all  credence 
to  the  accounts  that  have  been  transmitted  to  us,  of  a  race  of 
men  of  extraordinary  stature,  in  the  country  about  the  strait  of 
Magellan. 

Inscrutable  as- are  the  ways  of  Providence,  and  as  limited  as  is 
the  progress  hitherto  made  in  the  natural  philosophy  of  the  globe 


160  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

we  inhabit*  no  bounds  can  be  assigned  to  the  endless  variety  of 
-phenomena,  which  successively  appear.  The  man  who  can  as- 
sign a  reason  why  an  Irish  giant,  or  a  Polish  dwarf,  should  be 
born  amidst  nations  of  ordinary  stature,  will  have  solved  every 
problem,  as  to  the  existence,  either  of  gigantic  Patagonians,  or 
-of  pigmy  Esquimaux. 

From  an  impartial  revision  of  the  various  authorities,  it  ap- 
pears, as  an  established  fact,  that  the  usual  stature  of  one  or 
more  tribes  of  Indians  in  Patagonia,  is  from  six  and  a  half  to 
seven  and  a  half  feet."  When  the  Spaniards  conquered  and  de- 
stroyed the  nations  and  tribes  of  some  of  the  West  India  islands, 
among  them  was  a  tribe  whose  chief  was  a  man  of  great  stature. 
Cotubamana  was  the  name  of  this  cacique,  who  resided  with  his 
nation  on  the  island  Higuey,  adjacent  to  Hispaniola. 

This  chieftian,  as  related  by  Las  Casas,  the  historian,  was  the 
strongest  of  his  tribe,  and  more  perfectly  formed  than  one  man 
of  a  thousand,  of  any  nation  whatever.  He  was  taller  than  the 
tallest  of  his  countrymen,  and  in  width  from  shoulder  to  shoulder 
full  three  feet,  with  the  rest  of  his  person  in  admirable  propor- 
tion. His  aspect  was  not  handsome;  yet  his  countenance  was 
grave,  strongly  marked  with  the  characteristics  of  a  man  of  cour- 
age. His  bow  was  not  easily  bent  by  a  common  man;  his  ar- 
rows were  three  pronged,  pointed  with  the  bones  of  fishes;  all 
his  weapons  were  large  enough  for  a  giant;  in  a  word,  he  was  so 
nobly  proportioned  as  to  be  the  admiration  of  even  the  Spaniards. 
Already  the  murderous  Spaniards  had  been  more  than  conquer- 
ors in  several  battles  which  drove  the  poor  fugitives  to  their  eaves, 
and  the  fastnesses  of  the  mountains,  whither  they  had  followed 
their  chief.  A  daily  pursuit  was  continued,  but  chiefly  to  capture 
the  as  yet  invincible  Cotubamana.  While  searching  in  the  woods 
and  hills  of  the  island,  at  a  certain  time,  and  having  got  on  their 
trail,  they  came  at  length  to  a  place  where  the  path  which  they 
had  followed  suddenly  divided  into  many,  when  the  whole  com- 
pany of  the  Spaniards,  except  one  man,  chose  a  path,  which  they 
pursued.  This  one  exception,  was  a  man  named  Juan  Lopez,  a 
powerful  Spaniard,  and  skilful  in  the  mode  of  Indian  warfare. 
He  chose  to  proceed  alone,  in  a  blind  foot  path,  leading  off"  to  the 
left  of  the  course  the  others  had  taken,  winding  among  little  hills1 
so  thickly  wooded  that  it  was  impossible  to  see  a  man  at  the  dis- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  161 

iance  of  half  a  bow  shot.  But  as  he  was  silently  darting  along 
this  path,  he  encountered  all  at  once,  in  a  narrow  pass,  overhung 
by  rocks  and  trees,  twelve  Indian  warriors,  armed  with  bows  and 
arrows,  following  each  other  in  Indian  file.  The  poor  natives 
were  confounded  at  the  sight  of  Lopez,  imagining  there  must  be 
a  party  of  soldiers  behind  him,  or  they  would  doubtless  have 
transfixed  him  with  their  arrows.  Lopez  demanded  of  them 
where  their  chief  was;  they  replied,  he  is  behind  us,  and  opening 
to  let  him  pass,  he  beheld  the  dauntless  Cotubamana  in  the  rear. 
At  sight  of  the  Spaniard,  the  gallant  cacique  bent  his  gigantic 
bow,  and  was  on  the  point  of  launching  one  of  his  arrows  into  his 
heart;  but  Lopez  at  the  instant,  rushed  upon  him,  and  wounded 
him  with  his  sword. 

The  other  Indians,  struck  with  terror,  had  fled.  The  Spaniard 
and  Cotubamana  now  grappled  with  each  other;  Lopez  had  seized 
the  chief  by  the  hair  of  his  head  with  one  hand^  and  was  aiming 
with  the  other  a  thrust  with  his  sword  at  his  naked  body,  but  the 
chief  struck  down  the  sword  with  his  arm,  and  closed  in  with  his 
antagonist,  and  threw  him  with  his  back  upon  the  rough  rocks. 
As  they  were  both  men  of  great  strength,  the  struggle  was  long 
and  violent.  The  sword  lay  beneath  them,  but  Cotubamana 
seized  with  his  great  hand  the  Spaniard's  throat,  and  began  to 
strangle  him,  when  the  sound  of  the  contest  brought  the  other 
Spaniards  to  the  spot.  They  found  their  companion  writhing 
and  gasping  in  the  agonies  of  death,  in  the  gripe  of  the  Indian. 
The  whole  band  now  fell,  upon  him,  and  finally  succeeded  in 
binding  his  noble  limbs,  when  they  carried  him  to  St.  Domingo, 
where  the  infernal  Spaniards  hanged  him  as  if  he  had  been  a 
Murderer. — lrving's  Life  of  Columbus,  vol.  3,  p.  159. 

Could  this  native  have  been  less  than  twelve  feet  in  height,  to 
be  in  proportion  with  the  breadth  of  his  back  between  his  shoul- 
ders, which  was  full  three  feet,  as  Las  Casas  relates?  In  read- 
ing the  story  of  the  miserable  death  of  this  hero,  we  are 
reminded  of  the  no  less  tragical  end  of  Wallace,  the  Scottish 
chief,  who  was,  it  is  said,  a  man  of  great  size  and  strength,  and 
was  also  executed  for  defending  his  country.  Goliath  of  Gath 
was  six  cubits  and  a  span  high,  which,  according  to  the  esti- 
mate of  Bishop  Cumberland,  was  eleven  feet  and  ten  inches; 
Cotubamana  and  Goliath  of  the  Philistines,  were,  it  appears,  much 

11 


162  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

of  the  same  stature,  terrible  to  look  upon,  and  irresistible  in.' 
strength.  There  are  those  who  imagine,  that  the  first  inhabitants 
of  the  globe,  or  the  antediluvians,  were  much  larger  than  our 
race  at  the  present  time;  and  although  it  is  impossible  to  prove 
this  opinion,  yet  the  subject  is  not  beyond  the  reach  of  argument 
in  its  support.  The  circumstance  of  their  immense  longevity 
favors  strongly  this  opinion;  our  species,  as  they  are  now  con- 
stituted, could  not  possibly  endure  the  pressure  of  so  many  years; 
the  heart,  with  all  the  blood  vessels  of  the  body,  would  fail.  All 
the  organs  of  the  human  subject,  which  appertain  to  the  blood, 
would  ossify,  and  cease  their  action,  long  before  five,  six  and 
nine  hundred  years  should  transpire,  unless  differently  or  more 
abundantly  sustained  with  the  proper  support,  than  could  now  be 
furnished  from  the  little  bodies  of  the  present  times. 

Small  streams  sooner  feel  the  power  of  draught  than  a  river  or 
a  lake;  great  trees  are  longer  sustained  beneath  the  rays  of  a 
burning  sky,  without  rain,  than  a  mere  weed  or  shrub;  and  this 
is  by  reason  of  the  greater  quantum  of  the  juices  of  the  tree,  and' 
of  the  greater  quantum  .of  the  water  of  the  river  or  the  lake. 

Apply  this  reasoning  to  the  antediluvians,  and  we  arrive  at  the 
conclusion,  that  their  bodies  must  have  been  larger  than  ours,  or 
the  necessary  juices  could  not  have  been  contained,  so  as  to 
furnish  a  heart,  and  all  the  blood  vessels,  with  a  sufficient  ratio  of 
strength  and  vigor  to  support  life  so  many  ages  in  succession. 
Their  whole  conformation  must  have  been  of  a  larger,  looser,  and 
more  generous  texture,  as  the  flesh  and  skin  of  the  elephant, 
which  is  the  largest  as  well  as  the  longest  lived  animal  known  to 
the  science  of  zoology.  The  mammoth  was  undoubtedly  a  long 
lived  animal.  The  eagle,  the  largest  of  the  fowl  family,  lives  to 
a  great  age.  That  the  antediluvians  were  of  great  stature,  is 
strongly  supported  by  a  remark  of  king  Solomon,  found  in  his 
book  of  Wisdom,  in  the  Apocrypha,  14th  chapter,  at  the  6th 
verse,  where  he  calls  all  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth,  who  were 
destroyed  by  the  deluge,  "  proud  giants ,"  whose  history,  by  tra- 
dition, handed  down  from  the  family  of  Noah,  through  the  lineage 
of  Shem,  was  well  known  to  that  king,  the  wisest  of  men  in  his 
day  and  age.  And  even  after  the  flood,  the  great  stature  of  men 
is  supported  in  the  Scriptures  in  several  places,  who  were,  for 
some  generations,  permitted  to  live  several  hundred  years,  and 


AND  DISCOVERIES  IN    THE    WE8T.  163 

were  all  accordingly  of  great  stature.  Whole  tribes  or  nations 
of  gigantic  inhabitants  peopled  the  country  of  Canaan,  before  the 
Jews  drove  them  out.  Their  manners  and  customs  were  very 
horrible,  whom  Solomon,  the  king,  charges  with  being  guilty, 
among  many  other  enormities,  of  glutting  themselves  with  the 
blood  and  flesh  of  human  beings;  from  which  we  learn  they  were 
cannibals. — (See  book  of  Wisdom,  chap.  12,  v., — Apocrypha.) 
The  very  circumstances  of  the  human  race,  before  the  flood,  re- 
quired that  they  should  be  of  greater  strength  of  body  than  now, 
because  it  is  not  likely  so  many  useful  and  labor  saving  machines 
were  invented  and  in  use  as  now.  Every  thing  was  to  be  effected 
by  strength  of  muscle  and  bone,  which  of  course  would  require 
greater  bodies  to  produce  it. 

Were  we  to  indulge  in  fancy  on  this  subject,  we  should  judge 
them  no  pigmy  race,  either  in  person  or  in  temper;  but  terrible, 
broad,  and  tall  in  stature,  loose  and  flabby  in  their  flesh  and  skin; 
coarse  and  hideous  in  their  features,  slow  and  strong  in  their  ges- 
tures, irascible  and  ferocious  in  their  spirits,  without  pity  or  re- 
finement; given  wholly  to  war,  rapine  and  plunder;  formed  into 
bands;  clans  and  small  bodies  of  marauders,  constantly  prowl- 
ing round  each  other's  habitations,  outraging  all  the  charities  of 
a  more  refined  state  of  things,  measuring  all  things  by  mere 
bodily  strength. 

From  such  a  state  of  things  we  should  naturally  look  for  the 
consequence  mentioned  in  the  Bible;  which  is,  that  the  whole 
earth  was  filled  with  violence  before  the  flood,  and  extremely 
wicked  every  way,  so  as  to  justify  the  Divine  procedure  in  then- 
extermination  by  a  flood.  Indications  now  and  then  appear,  in 
several  parts  of  the  earth,  as  mentioned  by  the  traveller,  of  the 
existence  of  fowls,  of  a  size  compared  with  the  mammoth  itself, 
considering  the  difference  in  the  elements  each  inhabit,  and  ap- 
proach each  other  in  size  as  nearly  as  the  largest  fowl  now  known, 
does  the  largest  animal.  Henderson,  in  his  travels  in  New  Sibria, 
met  with  the  claws  of  a  bird,  measuring  three  feet  in  length;  the 
same  was  the  length  of  the  toes  of  a  mammoth,  as  measured  by 
Adam  Clarke.  The  Yakuts,  inhabitants  of  the  Siberian  country, 
assured  Mr.  Henderson,  that  they  had  frequently,  in  their  hunt- 
ing excursions,  found  the  skeleton,  and  even  the  feathers  of  this 
fowl,  the  quills  of  which  were   large  enough  to  admit  a  man's 


164  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

arm  into  the  calibre,  which  would  not  be  out  of  proportion  with 
the  size  of  the  claws  mentioned  above.  Captain  Cook  mentions 
having  seen,  during  his  voyages,  a  monstrous  birds'  nest  in  New 
Holland,  on  a  low  sandy  island,  in  Endeavor  river,  with  trees 
upon  it,  where  were  an  incredible  number  of  sea  fowls.  This 
monstrous  nest  was  built  on  the  ground,  with  large  sticks,  and 
was  no  less  than  twenty-six  feet  in  circumference,  more  than 
eight  feet  across,  and  two  feet  eight  inches  high.  Geographies 
speak  of  a  species  of  eagle,  sometimes  shot  in  South  America, 
measuring  from  tip  to  tip  of  the  wings,  forty  feet.  This,  indeed, 
must  have  been  of  the  species  celebrated  in  the  tradition  of  the 
ancients,  called  the  Phoenix. 

In  various  parts  of  Ireland  are  frequently  dug  up  enormous 
horns,  supposed  to  have  belonged  to  a  species  "of  deer  now  extinct. 
Some  of  these  horns  have  been  found,  of  the  extent  of  fourteen 
feet  from  tip  to  tip,  furnished  with  brow  antlers,  and  weighing 
three  hundred  pounds.  The  whole  skeleton  is  frequently  found 
with  them.  It  is  supposed  the  animal  must  have  been  about  twelve 
feet  high. — (Morse's  Universal  Geography.) 


A  further  Account  of  Discoveries  in  the   West,   as  given  by 
the  Antiquarian  Society  at  Cincinnati. 

Near  Newark,  in  the  county  of  Licking,  Ohio,  is  situated  one 
of  those  immense  works  or  fortifications.  Its  builders  chose, with 
good  taste  and  judgment,  this  site  for  their  town,  being  exactly  on 
the  point  of  land  at  the  junction  of  Racoon  creek  and  South  fork, 
where  Licking  river  commences.  It  is  in  form  resembling  some- 
what a  horse  shoe,  accommodated,  however,  to  the  sweep  of  those 
two  streams;  embracing  in  the  whole  a  circumference  of  about  six 
hundred  rods,  or  nearly  two  miles. 

A  wall  of  earth  of  about  four  hundred  rods  is  raised  on  the  sides 
of  this  fort,  next  to  the  small  creek  which  comes  down  along  its 
sides  from  the  west  and  east.  The  situation  is  beautiful,  as  these 
works  stand  on  a  large  plain,  which  is  elevated  forty  or  fifty  feet 
above  the  stream  just  noticed,  and  is  almost  perfectly  flat,  and  as 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEPT.  165 

rich  a  soil  as  can  be  found  in  that  country.  It  would  seem  the 
people  who  made  this  settlement  undertook  to  encompass  with  a 
wall  as  much  land  as  would  support  its  inhabitants,  aud  also  suffi- 
cient to  build  their  dwellings  on,  with  several  fortifications,  arran- 
ged in  a  proper  manner  for  its  defence.  There  are,  within  its 
ranges,  four  of  those  forts,  of  different  dimensions;  one  contains 
forty  acres,  with  a  wall  of  about  ten  feet  high;  another,  contain- 
ing twenty-two  acres,  also  walled;  but  in  this  fort  is  an  elevated 
observatory,  of  sufficient  height  to  overlook  the  whole  country. 
From  this,  there  is  the  appearance  of  a  secret  or  subterranean 
passage  to  the  water,  as  one  of  the  creeks  runs  near  this  fort.  A 
third  fort,  containing  about  twenty-six  acres,  having  a  wall  around 
it,  thrown  out  of  a  deep  ditch  on  the  inner  side  of  the  wall.  This 
wall  is  now  from  twenty-five  to  thirty  feet  in  height.  A  fourth 
fortification^  enclosing  twenty  acres,  with  a  wall  of  about  ten  feet 
high.  Two  of  these  forts  are  perfect  circles;  one  a  perfect  square; 
another  an  octagon,  or  eight  sided.  These  forts  are  severally 
connected  by  roads  running  between  parallel  walls,  and  also  in 
the  same  way  communicate  with  the  creeks;  so  that  these  impor- 
tant points,  in  case  of  invasion,  should  not  be  deprived  of  water. 
There  are,  besides  the  forts,  four  other  small  works  of  defence, 
of  a  circular  form,  situated  in  such  a  manner  as  to  protect,  in  a 
measure,  the  roads  running  from  fort  to  fort. 

The  fort  which  is  of  the  eight  sided  form,  containing  the  great- 
est space  within,  has  eight  gateways,  with  a  mound  in  front  of 
each  of  them,  and  were  doubtless  placed  there  to  aid  in  a  defence 
against  invaders.  The  other  forts  have  no  gateways  connected 
with  the  roads  that  lead  to  them^  except  one,  and  this  is  a  round 
fort  united  to  the  octangular  fort,  containing  twenty-two  acres;  the 
gateway  to  this  looks  toward  the  wilderness,  at  this  gate  is  also  a 
mound,  supposed  to  be  for  its  defence. 

On  the  southern  side  of  this  great  town,  is  a  road  running  off  to 
tho  country,  whioh  is  also  walled  in  the  same  way  ;  it  has  been 
surveyed  a  few  miles,  and  it  is  supposed  to  connect  other  similar 
works  on  the  Hokhoking,  thirty  miles  distance,  at  some  point  a 
few  miles  north  of  Lancaster,  as  walls  of  the  description  connect- 
ed with  this  work,  of  ten  or  twelve  miles  in  extent,  have  been  dis- 
covered. It  is  supposed,  also,  that  the  wall  on  each  side  of  the 
road  were  made  for  the  double  purpose  of  answering  as  a  fenc.1  to 


166  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES. 

their  fields,  with  gateways  to  accommodate  their  farms,  and  for 
security  in  time  of  danger,  so  that  communion  between  friendly 
settlements  might  not  be  interrupted.  About  the  walls  of  this 
place  have  been  discovered  very  beautiful  rock  crystal  and  horn 
stone,  suitable  for  arrow  and  spear  heads,  a  little  lead,  sulphur, 
and  iron.  This  kind  of  stone,  suitable  for  spears,  was,  undoubt- 
edly, valuable  on  other  accounts,  as  axes,  knives,  mallets,  &c, 
were  made  of  it.  It  is  likely  that,  as  very  little  iron  has  been 
discovered,  even  in  its  oxydized  state,  their  vast  works  of  excava- 
tion were  carried  on  by  means  of  wooden  shovels  and  scrapers, 
which  would  answer  very  well  in  the  easy  and  stoneless  soil  of 
that  country. 

A  second  fort,  situated  southwesterly  from  the  great  works  on 
the  Licking,  and  four  or  five  miles,  in  a  northwestern  direction 
from  Somerset,  the  seat  of  justice  for  Perry  county,  is  found. 
This  work  encloses  about  forty  acres.  Its  wall  is  entirely  of 
stone,  not  regularly  laid  up  in  a  wall,  agreeably  to  the  rules  of 
masonry,  but  a  huge  mass  of  stones  and  rocks,  of  all  shapes 
and  sizes,  as  nature  formed  them,  without  the  mark  of  an  iron 
tool  upon  them.  These  are  in  sufficient  quantity  to  form  a  wall, 
if  laid  in  good  order,  of  about  fourteen  feet  in  height,  and  three 
in  thickness. 

Near  the  centre  of  the  area  of  this  enclosure  is  a  stone  mound, 
of  a  circular  form,  fifteen  feet  high,  and  was  erected,  as  is  con- 
jectured, for  an  altar,  on  which  were  performed  their  religious 
rites,  and  also  for  a  monument  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of  some 
great  event  in  the  history  of  its  builders.  It  is  also  believed  that 
the  whole  of  this  vast  preparation  was  devoted  solely  to  the  pur- 
poses of  worship  of  some  kind;  as  it  is  situated  on  very  high 
grounds,  where  the  soil  is  good  for  nothing,  and  may  have  been, 
what  is  called  a  high  place  in  Scripture,  according  to  the  customs 
of  the  ancient  pagans  of  the  old  world. 

It  could  not  have  been  a  military  work,  as  no  water  is  found 
there,  nor  a  place  of  dwelling,  for  the  same  reason,  and  from  the 
poverty  of  the  soil;  but  must  have  been  a  place  of  resort  on  great 
occasions,  such  as  a  solemn  assembly  to  propitiate  the  gods;  and 
also  a  place  to  anoint  and  crown  their  kings,  elect  legislators, trans- 
act national  affairs,  judge  among  the  people,  and  inflict  condign 
punishment. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  167 

Who  will  believe  for  a  moment  that  the  common  Indians  of  the 
west,  who  were  derived  in  part  from  the  wandering  hordes  of  the 
northern  Tartar  race  of  Asia,  were  the  authors  of  these  works, 
bearing  the  marks  of  so  much  labor  and  scientific  calculation  in 
their  construction?     It  cannot  be. 


Vast  Works  of  the  Ancient  Nations  on  the  east  side  of  the 
Muskingum. 

This  fort,  town,  or  fortification,  or  whatever  it  may  have  been, 
is  between  three  and  four  hundred  rods,  or  rising  of  a  mile  in  cir- 
cumferenoe,  and  so  situated  as  to  be  nearly  surrounded  by  two 
small  brooks,  running  into  the  Muskingum.  Their  site  is  on  an 
elevated  plain,  above  the  present  bank  of  that  river,  about  a  half 
mile  from  its  junction  with  the  Ohio. 

We  give  the  account  in  the  words  of  Mr.  Atwater,  president  of 
the  Antiquarian  Society: 

"  They  consist  of  walls  and  mounds  of  earth,  in  direct  lines, 
and  in  square  and  circular  forms.  The  largest  square  fort,  by 
some  called  the  town,  contains  forty  acres,  encompassed  by  a  wall 
of  earth  from  six  to  ten  feet  high,  and  from  twenty  to  thirty  in 
breadth  at  the  base. 

"  On  each  side  are  three  openings,  at  equal  distances,  resem- 
bling twelve  gateways.  The  entrances  at  the  middle  are  the 
largest,  particularly  on  the  side  next  to  the  Muskingum.  From 
this  outlet  is  a  covert  way,  formed  of  two  parallel  walls  of  earth, 
two  hundred  and  thirty-one  feet  distant  from  each  other,  meas- 
ured from  centre  to  centre.  The  walls  at  the  most  elevated  part, 
on  the  inside,  are  twenty-one  feet  in  height,  and  forty-two  in 
breadth,  at  the  base,  but  on  the  outside  average  only  about  five 
feet  in  height.  This  forms  a  passage  of  about  twenty  rods  in 
length,  leading  by  a  gradual  descent  to  the  low  grounds,  where, 
at  the  time  of  its  construction,  it  probably  reached  the  river.  Its 
walls  commence  at  sixty  feet  from  the  ramparts  of  the  fort,  and 
increase  in  elevation,  as  the  way  descends  to  the  river;  and  the 


168  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

bottom  is  rounded  in  the  centre,  in  the  manner  of  a  well  founded 
turnpike  road. 

Within  the  walls  of  the  fort,  at  its  northwest  corner,  is  an  ob- 
long elevated  square,  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet  long,  one  hun- 
dred and  thirty-two  broad,  and  nine  feet  high,  level  on  the  summit, 
and  even  now  jiearly  perpendicular  at  the  sides.  Near  the  south 
wall  is  an  elevated  square,  one  hundred  and  fifty  by  one  hundred 
and  twenty,  and  eight  feet  high,  similar  to  the  other,  excepting 
that  instead  of  an  ascent  to  go  up  on  the  side  next  the  wall,  there 
is  a  hollow  way,  ten  feet  wide,  leading  twenty  feet  towards  the 
the  centre,  and  then  rising  with  a  gradual  slope  to  the  top.  This 
was,  it  is  likely,  a  secret  passage.  At  the  southeast  corner  is  a 
third  elevated  square  of  one  hundred  and  eighty  by  fifty-four  feet, 
with  ascents  at  the  ends,  ten  feet  wide,  but  not  so  high  or  perfect 
as  two  others. 

Besides  this  forty  acre  fort,  which  is  situated  within  the  great 
range  of  the  surrounding  wall,  there  is  another,  containing  twenty 
acres,  with  a  gateway  in  the  centre  of  each  side,  and  at  each 
corner  these  gateways  are  defended  by  circular  mounds. 

On  the  outside  of  the  smaller  fort  is  a  mound  in  form  of  a  sugar 
loaf;  its  base  is  a  regular  circle,  one  hundred  and  fifteen  feet  in 
diameter,  or  twenty-one  rods  in  circumference  ;  its  altitude  is 
thirty  feet.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  ditch  four  feet  deep,  fifteen  feet 
wide,  and  defended  by  a  parapet  four  feet  high,  through  which  is 
a  gateway  towards  the  foot,  twenty  feet  in  width.  Near  one  of 
the  corners  of  the  great  fort  was  found  a  reservoir  or  well,twenty- 
five  feet  in  diameter,  and  seventy-five  in  circumference,  with  its 
sides  raised  above  the  common  level  of  the  adjoining  surface,  by 
an  embankment  of  earth,  three  and  four  feet  high. 

It  was  undoubtedly  at  first  very  deep,  as,  since  its  discovery  by 
the  first  settlers,  they  have  frequently  thrust  poles  into  it,  to  the 
depth  of  thirty  feet.  It  appears  to  run  to  a  point,  like  an  inverted 
cone  or  funnel,  and  was  undoubtedly  that  kind  of  well  used  by 
the  inhabitants  of  the  old  world,  which  were  so  large  at  their 
top  as  to  afford  an  easy  descent  down  to  the  fountain,  and  up 
again  with  its  water  in  a  vessel  borne  on  the  shoulder,  according 
to  the  ancient  custom.  (See  Genesis,  xiii.  24.)  "And  she  (that 
is  Rebecca,  the  daughter  of  Bethuel,)  went  down  to  the  well, 
filled  her  pitcher,  and  came  up."    Bethuel  was  an  Assyrian,who. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  169 

it  seems,  had  made  a  well  in  the  same  form  with  that  described 
above.  Its  sjdes  were  lined  with  a  stratum  of  fine  ash-colored 
clay,  eight  and  ten  inches  thick,  beyond  which  is  the  common  soil 
of  the  place.  It  is  conjectured  that  at  the  bottom  of  this  well 
might  be  found  many  curious  articles  which  Belonged  to  the  an- 
cient inhabitants.  Several  pieces  of  copper  have  been  found  in 
and  near  these  ancient  works,  at  various  places;  and  one  was  in 
the  form  of  a  cup,  with  low  sides,  the  bottom  very  thick  and 
strong,  showing  their  enlarged  acquaintance  with  that  metal,  more 
than  the  Indians  ever  had. 


Ruins  of  Ancient  Works  at  Circlevllle. 

At  Circlevillc,  in  Ohio,  are  the  remains  of  very  great  works 
of  this  description,  evidently  of  a  military  character,  two  of  which 
are  united;  one  is  exactly  square,  the  other  an  exact  circle.  The 
square  fort  is  fifty  rods  on  each  side;  the  round  one  is  nearly  three 
hundred  feet,  or  eighteen  rods  in  circumference;  the  circle  and 
square  touching  each  other,  and  communicate  at  the  very  spot 
where  they  united. 

The  circular  fort  is  surrounded  by  two  walls,  with  a  deep  ditch 
between  them;  the  square  fort  is  also  encompassed  by  a  wall, 
without  a  ditch.  The  walls  of  the  circular  fort  were  at  least 
twenty  feet  in  height,  measuring  from  the  bottom  of  the  ditch, 
before  the  town  of  Circleville  was  built.  The  inner  wall  is  formed 
of  clay,  brought  from  a  distance;  but  the  outside  one  was  formed 
with  the  earth  of  the  ditch,  as  it  was  thrown  out. 

There  were  eight  gateways  or  openings  leading  into  the  square 
fort,  and  only  one  into  the  circular.  Before  each  of  these 
openings  was  a  mound  of  earth,  about  four  feet  high,  forty  feet 
in  diameter  at  the  base,  and  twenty  feet  and  upwards  at  the  top, 
situated  about  two  rods  in  front  of  the  gates,  for  the  defence,  no 
doubt,  of  these  openings.  The  walls  of  this  work  vary  a  few 
degrees  from  north  and  south,  and  east  and  west,  but  no  more 
than  the  needle  varies;  and  not  a  few  surveyors  have,  from  this 


^70  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

circumstance,  been  impressed  with  the  belief,  that  the  authors 
of  these  works  were  acquainted  with  astronomy,  and  the  four  car- 
dinal points. 

Within  the  great  square  fort  are  eight  small  mounds,  placed  op- 
posite the  gateways,  for  their  defence,  or  to  give  opportunity  to 
privileged  spectators  to  review  the  thousands  passing  out  to  war, 
or  coming  in  with  the  trophies  of  victory.  Such  was  the  custom 
of  ancient  times.  David,  the  most  potent  king  of  the  Jews,  stood 
at  the  gateway  of  the  city,  as  his  armies  went  to  quell  the  insur- 
rection of  his  son,  Absalom.  (See  2d  Samuel,  xviii.  4.)  "  And 
the  king  stood  by  the  gate  side,  and  all  the  people  came-  out,  by 
hundreds  and  by  thousands."  It  cannot  be  supposed  the  king 
stood  on  the  ground,  on  a  common  level  with  his  armies.  Such  a 
situation  would  be  extremely  inconvenient,  and  defeat,  in  a  great 
measure,  the  opportunity  of  review.  How  impressive,  when  sol- 
diers, fired  with  all  the  ardor  of  expected  victory,  to  behold  their 
general,  chief,  king,  or  emperor,  bending  over  them,  as  they  pass 
on,  from  some  commanding  position  near  at  hand,  giving  counsel 
to  their  captains;  drawing,  in  this  way,  large  draughts  on  the  in- 
dividual confidence  and  love  of  the  soldiery.  Such  may  have  been 
the  spectacle  at  the  gateways  of  the  forts  of  the  west,  at  the  eras 
•of  their  grandeur. 

In  musin  »  on  the  structure  of  these  vast  works  found  along  the 
-western  rivers,  enclosing  such  immense  spaces  of  land,  the  mind 
is  irresistibly  directed  to  a  contemplation  of  ancient  Babylon,  the 
first  city  of  magnitude  built  immediately  after  the  flood.  That 
city  was  of  a  square  form,  being  fifteen  miles  distance  on  each  of 
its  sides,  and  sixty  in  circumference,  surrounded  with  a  wall 
eighty-seven  feet  in  thickness,  and  three  hundred  and  fifty  in 
height.  On  each  side  it  had  twenty-five  gateways,  amounting  in 
all,  to  a  hundred;  the  whole,  besides  the  wall,  surrounded  with  a 
deep  and  wide  ditch.  At  each  corner  of  this  immense  square  was 
a  strong  tower,  ten  feet  higher  than  the  walls.  There  were  fifty 
broad  streets,  each  fifteen  miles  long,  starting  from  each  of  its 
gates,  and  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  broad,  crossing  each  other  at 
right  angles,  besides  four  half  streets,  surrounding  the  whole,  two 
hundred  feet  broad.  The  whole  city  was  divided  into  six  hundred 
and  seventy-six  squares,  four  and  a  half  furlongs  on  each  side.  In 
ithe  centre  of  the  city  stood  the  temple  of  Belus,  and  in  the  centre 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  171 

of  this  temple  stood  an  immense  tower,  six  hundred  feet  square  at 
its  base,  and  six  hundred  feet  high,  narrowing  in  the  form  of  a 
pyramid,  as  it  ascended.  The  ascent  to  the  summit  was  accom- 
plished by  spiral  stairs,  winding  eight  times  round  the  whole:  this 
tower  consisted  of  eight  distinct  parts,  each  on  the  top  of  the  other, 
seventy-five  feet  high,  till  the  whole,  in  aggregate,  finished  the 
tower. 

In  the  different  stories  were  temples  or  chapels  for  the  worship 
of  the  sun;  and  on  its  top,  some  authors  say,was  an  image  of  gold, 
forty  feet  in  height,  equal  in  value  to  three  millions  five  hundred 
thousand  dollars. — Blake's  Atlas. 

The  model  of  this  city,  with  its  towers  at  the  corners,  and 
pyramid  in  its  centre,  having  been  made  at  so  early  a  period 
of  time,  being  not  far  from  one  hundred  years  after  the  flood,was 
doubtless  of  sufficient  influence  to  impress  its  image  on  the  memory 
of  tradition,  so  that  the  nations  spreading  out  from  that  region 
ever  all  the  earth,  may  have  copied  this  Chaldean  model  in  their 
various  works. 

This  thought  is  strengthened  when  we  compare  its  counterpart, 
the  vast  works  of  the  west,  with  this  Babylonian  prototype  of  ar- 
chitectural effort,  and  imagine  we  see  in  the  latter,  the  features 
and  general  outlines  of  this  giant  among  cities,  in  the  towers, 
walls  and  pyramids  of  the  western  States. 

Near  the  round  fort  at  Circleville  is  another  fort,  ninety  feet 
high,  and  was  doubtless  erected  to  overlook  the  whole  works  of 
that  enormous  military  establishment.  That  it  was  a  military  es- 
tablishment is  the  decided  opinion  of  the  president  of  the  Western 
Antiquarian  Society,  Mr.  Atwater.  He  says  the  round  fort  was 
picketed  in,  if  we  are  to  judge  from  the  appearance  of  the  ground, 
on  and  about  the  walls.  Half  way  up  the  outside  of  the  inner 
wall,  is  a  place  distinctly  to  be  seen  where  a  row  of  pickets  once 
stood,  and  where  it  was  placed  when  this  work  of  defence  was 
originally  erected.  Finally,  this  work  about  its  walls  and  ditch,  a 
few  years  since  presented  as  much  of  defensive  aspect  as  forts 
which  were  occupied  in  our  war  with  the  French,  such  as  Oswego, 
Fort  Sianwix,  and  others. 

Respecting  this  place,  it  is  said  that  the  Indian,  even  to  this  day, 
will  on  no  account  enter  within  its  outlines,  which  circumstance 
proves,  bjyond  a  doubt,  that  it  was  also  a  holy  or  sacred  place, 


172  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

where  the  mysteries  of  ancient  paganism  were  celebrated  with  all 
the  pomp  and  circumstance  necessary  to  the  belief  of  that  which 
is  but  fiction. 


Ancient  Works  un  Paint  Creek. 

On  Paint  Creek,  in  Ohio,  about  fifteen  miles  from  Chilicothe, 
are  works  of  art  still  more  wonderful  than  any  yet  described. 
There  are  six  in  number,  in  the  neighborhood  of  each  other.  In 
one  of  those  grand  enclosures  are  contained  three  forts.  One 
embraces  seventeen,  another  twenty*seven,  a  third  seventy-se- 
ven— amounting,  in  all,  to  one  hunted  and  fifteen  acres  of 
land. 

One  of  those  forts  is  round,  another  square,  and  a  third  is 
of  an  irregular  form;  approaching,  however,  nearer  to  the  cir- 
cular than  any  othei ;  and  the  wall  which  embraces  the  whole, 
is  so  contrived  in  its  courses,  as  to  favor  those  several  forms,  the 
whole  being  evidently  one  work,  separated  into  three  compart- 
ments. 

There  are  fourteen  gateways  going  out  of  the  whole  work,  be- 
sides three  .which  unite  the  several  forts  one  with  the  other,  in- 
wardly. All  these,  especially  those  leading  outwardly,  are  very 
wide,  being,  as  they  now  appear,  from  one  to  six  rods.  At  three 
of  those  gateways,  on  the  outside  of  the  wall,  are  as  many  ancient 
wells  ;  and  one  on  the  inside,  where  doubtless,  the  inhabitants 
procured  water.  Their  width  across  the  top  is  from  four  to  six 
rods,  but  their  depth  unknown,  as  they  are  now  nearly  filled  up. 
Within  the  greatest  enclosure,  containing  the  seventy-seven  acres, 
is  an  eliptical  elevation  of  twenty-five  feet  high,  and  so  large, 
that  its  area  is  nearly  one  hundred  and  fifty  rods  in  circumference, 
composed  almost  entirely  of  stone  in  their  rough  and  natural  state, 
brought  from  a  hill  adjacent  to  the  place. 

This  elevated  work  is  full  of  human  bones,  and  some  have  not 
hesitated  to  express  a  belief,  that  on  this  work,  human  beings 
were  once  sacrificed.     The  surface  is  smooth  and  level,  favoring 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  173 

the  idea  of  the  horrid  parade,  such  occasions  would  produce  ; 
yet  they  may  have  been  erected  for  the  purpose  of  mere  military 
manoeuvring,  which  would  produce  a  spectacle  very  imposing, 
composed  of  thousands,  harnessed  in  their  war  attire,  with  nod- 
ding plumes.  About  a  mile  from  this  fort,  there  is  a  work  in  the 
form  of  a  half  moon,  set  round  the  edges  with  stones,  exactly 
resembling  the  stone  circles  of  the  Druids,  in  which  they  per- 
formed their  mystic  rites  in  Europe,  two  thousand  years  ago. 
Near  this  semicircle  is  a  very  singular  mound  of  only  five  feet  in 
height,  but  ninety  feet  in  circumference,  composed  entirely  of  red 
ochre  ;  which  answers  well  as  a  paint.  An  abundance  of  this 
ochre  is  found  on  a  hill,  not  a  great  distance  from  this  place  ; 
from  which  circumstance,  the  stream  which  runs  along  here,  is 
called  Paint  Creek. 

So  vast  a  heap  of  this  paint  being  deposited,  is  pretty  clear  evi- 
dence, that  it  was  an  article  of  commerce,  among  these  nations. 
Here  may  have  been  a  store  house,  or  a  range  of  them,  attended 
by  salesmen,  or  merchants;  who  took  in  exchange  for  it,  copper, 
feathers,  bow  and  arrow  timber,  stone  for  hatchets,  spears,  and 
knives,  wooden  ploughs  and  shovels  ;  with  skins  and  furs,  for 
clothing  ;  stones  for  building  their  rude  altars  and  works  ;  with 
food  to  sustain  the  populace,  as  the  manner  of  cities  is  of  the  pre- 
sent time.  Red  paint  in  particular,  is  used  now  among  the  Hin- 
doos, which  they  mark  themselves  with,  as  well  as  their  gods. 
This  vast  collection  of  red  paint,  by  the  ancient  nations,  on  Paint 
creek  favors  the  opinion  that  it  was  put  to  the  same  use,  by  the 
same  people. 

Near  this  work  is  another,  on  the  same  creek,  enclosing  eighty- 
four  acres,  part  of  which  is  a  square  fort,  with  seven  gateways  ; 
and  the  other  a  fort,  of  an  irregular  oval,  with  seven  gateways, 
surrounded  with  a  wall  like  the  others.  But  the  most  interesting 
work  of  the  three  contiguous  forts,  is  yet  to  be  described.  It  is 
situated  on  a  high  hill,  of  more  than  three  hundred  feet  elevation, 
and  in  many  places  almost  perpendicular.  The  wall  running  round 
this  work,  is  built  exactly  on  the  brow  of  the  precipice,  and  in  its 
courses,  is  accommodated  to  the  variations  of  this  natural  battle- 
ment, enclosing,  in  the  whole,  one  hundred  and  thirty  acres.  On 
its  south  end  the  ground  is  level,  where  the  entrance  to  the  fort  is 
easy.     At  the  north  end.  which  approaches  pretty  near  to    Paint 


174  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

creek,  appears  to  have  been  a  gateway  descending  to  the  water, 
the  ground  favoring  it  at  this  point,  as  well  as  at  one  other,  lead- 
ing to  a  little  stream,  which  runs  along  its  base,  on  the  east  side 
of  this  eminence,  where  is  also  another  gateway  ;  these  three 
'  places  are  the  only  points  which  are  at  all  'accessible.  The  wall 
round  the  whole  one  hundred  and  thirty  acres,  is  entirely  of  stone, 
and  is  in  sufficient  quantity,  if  laid  up  in  good  order,  to  make  it 
ten  feet  high,  and  four  thick.  At  the  north  gateway,  stones 
enough  now  lie,  to  have  built  two  considerable  round  towers, 
taken  from  the  hill  itself,  and  are  of  the  red  sand  stone  kind. 

Near  the  south  end  of  this  enclosure,  at  the  place  where  it  is 
easiest  of  access,  "  appear  to  have  been  a  row  of  furnaces,  (says 
Mr.  Atwater)  or  smith's  shops,  where  the  cinders  now  lie,  many 
feet  deep  ;  but  was  not  able  to  say  with  certainty,  what  manufac- 
tures were  carried  on  here,  whether  brick  or  iron,  or  both."'  It 
was  a  clay,  that  had  been  exposed  to  the  action  of  fire  ;  the  re- 
mains of  which  are  four  and  five  feet  in  depth  ;  which  shows  in 
a  good  degree,  the  amount  of  business  done  was  great.  "  Iron 
ore,  in  this  country,  is  sometimes  found  in  such  clay  ;  brick  and 
potter's  ware  are  now  manfactured  out  of  it.  This  fort  is,  from 
its  natural  site,  one  of  the  strongest  positions  of  the  kind  in  the 
state  of  Ohio,  so  high  is  its  elevation,  and  so  nearly  perpendicular 
are  the  sides  of  the  hill  on  which  it  was  built."  At  the  several 
angles  of  the  wall,  and  at  the  gateways,  the  abundance  of  stone 
there,  leads  to  the  belief,  that  those  points,  towers  and  battlements 
once  overlooked  the  country  to  an  immense  distance;  from  whence 
stones  and  arrows  might  have  been  launched  away,  from  engines 
adapted  to  that  purpose,  among  the  approaching  enemy,  with 
dreadful  effect.  "  No  military  man  could  have  selected  a  better 
position  for  a  place  of  protection  to  his  countrymen,  their  temples 
and  their  gods,"  than  this. 


Ancient  Wells  found  in  the  bottom  of  Paint  Creek. 

.  In  the  bed  of  Paint  creek,  which  washes  the  foot  of  the  hiir, 
on  which  the  walled  town  stood,  have  been  discovered  four  wells- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN*    THE    WEST.  175 

They  were  dug  through  a  pyritous  slate  rock  whieh  is  very  rich 
in  iron  ore.  When  first  discovered,  by  a  person  passing  over 
them  in  a  canoe,  they  were  covered,  each  by  stones  of  about  the 
size  and  shape  of  the  common  mill  stone.  These  covers  had 
holes  through  their  centre,  through  which  a  large  pry,  or  hand- 
spike might  be  put  for  the  purpose  of  removing  them  off  and  on 
the  wells.  The  hole  through  the  centre  of  each  stone,  was  about 
four  inches  in  diameter.  The  wells  at  their  tops  were  more  than 
nine  feet  in  circumference;  the  stones  were  well  wrought  with 
tools,  so  as  to  make  good  joints,  as  a  stone  mason  would  say, 
which  were  laid  around  them  severally,  as  a  pavement.  At  the' 
time  they  were  dug,  it  is  not  likely  Paint  creek  run  over  these 
wells.  For  what  they  were  sunk,  is  a  mystery;  as  that  for  the 
purposes  of  water,  so  many  so  near  each  other,  would  scarcely 
appear  necessary;  perhaps  for  some  kind  of  ore  or  favorite  stone,, 
was  the  original  object,  perhaps  for  salt  water. 

There  is,  at  Portsmouth,  Ohio,  one  of  those  works,  which  i& 
very  extensive  and  wonderful,  on  account  of  walled  roads,  a 
"  high  place,"  with  many  intricate  operations  in  its  construction. 
On  the  east  bank  of  the  Little  Miami,  about  thirty  miles  east 
from  Cincinnati,  are  vast  works  of  this  character.  Twelve  miles 
west  of  Chillicothe,  on  Paint  creek,  are  found  the  remains  of  a 
furnace  ten  or  twelve  feet  square,  formed  of  rough  stone,  sur- 
rounded by  cinders,  among  trees  of  full  size.  There  are,  at  this- 
place  seven  wells,  situated  within  the  compass  of  an  acre  of  land, 
regularly  walled  up  with  hewn  stone,  but  are  nearly  now  filled  up 
with  the  accumulating  earth  of  ages  Eight  miles  farther  up  the 
Creek,  a  small  bar  of  gold  was  taken  out  of  a  mound,  which 
sold  in  Chillicothe  for  twelve  dollars.  A  piece  of  a  cast  iron 
vessel  was  taken  out  of  the  circular  embankment  at  Circleville, 
Ohio.  Near  the  same  place  was  dug  up  from  beneath  the  roots 
of  a  hickory  tree,  seven  feet  eight  inches  in  circumference,  a 
copper  coin,  but  bearing  no  comparison  with  any  coin  now 
known.  Another  specimen  of  copper,  finely  wrought,  was  found 
on  removing  a  mound  in  Chillicothe. 

On  the  Little  Miami,  about  four  miles  above  Waynes-Ville,  on 
opening  a  spring  of  water,  the  workmen  struck  upon  a  regular 
stone  wall.  In  digging  a  well  in  the  village  of  Williamsburgh, 
on  the  east  fork  of  Little  Miami,  those  engaged  in  the  excava- 


176  AMKRICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

lion,  come  to  a  fire-place  with  charcoal  and  brands  of  burnt  wood, 
at  the  depth  of  about  thirty  feet.  On  the  same  stream,  thirty 
miles  above,  a  well  was  found,  supposed  to  have  been  made  by 
the  ancient  people,  regularly  stoned  up,  of  the  same  size  that 
wells  are  now.  .  In  some  other  mounds  refined  copper  mixed  with 
gold  has  been  discovered.  What  better  evidence  can  be  necessary 
to  establish  the  fact,  that  nations  not  aboriginal  have  peopled  this 
country,  who,  for  aught  that  appears  to  the  contrary  were  as 
polished,  enterprising,  and  as  enlightened  as  the  people  of  the 
most  refined  ages  of  antiquity,  as  demonstrated  in  China,  or  even 
in  Europe,  as  far  back  as  the  era  of  the  commencement  of  Chris- 
tianity? And  if  we  may  judge  by  some  discoveries  which  have 
been  made  in  the  west,  we  are  able  to  show  that  they  were  much 
more  so,  of  which  we  shall  give  the  evidence  before  we  close  the 
volume. 

New  discoveries  are  constantly  making  of  these  ancient  works, 
the  farther  we  go  west,  and  the  more  minutely  the  research  is 
prosecuted. 

During  the  last  year,  1832,  a  Mr.  Ferguson  communicated  to 
the  editor  of  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal,  a  discovery  of 
the  kind,  which  he  examined,  and  describes  as  follows: — "  On  a 
mountain  called  the  Lookout  mountain,  belonging  to  the  vast 
Alleghanian  chain,  running  between  the  Tennessee  and  Coos 
rivers,  rising  about  one  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sur- 
rounding valle)'-.  The  top  of  the  mountain  is  mostly  level,  but 
presents  to  the  eye  an  almost  barren  waste.  On  this  range,  not- 
withstanding its  height,  a  river  has  its  source,  which,  after  tra- 
versing for  about  seventy  miles,  plunges  over  a  precipice.  The 
rock  from  which  the  water  falls,  is  circular,  and  juts  over  consider- 
ably. Immediately  below  the  fall,  on  each  side  of  the  river,  are 
bluffs,  which  rise  two  hundred  feet.  Around  one  of  these  bluffs, 
the  river  makes  a  bend,  which  gives  it  the  form  of  a  peninsula. 
On  the  top  of  this  are  the  remains  of  what  is  esteemed  fortifica- 
tions which  consist  of  a  stone  wall,  built  on  the  very  brow  of  this 
tremendous  ledge.  The  whole  length  of  the  wall,  following  the 
varying  courses  of  the  brink  of  this  precipice,  is  thirty-seven 
rods  and  eight  feet,  including  about  two  acres  of  ground." 

The  only  descent  from  this  place  is  between  two  rocks,  for 
about  thirty  feet,  when  a  bench  of  the   ledge  presents  itself,  from 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  177 

two  to  five  feet  in  width,  and  ninety  feet  long.  This  bench  is  the 
only  road  or  path  up  from  the  water's  edge  to  the  summit.  But 
just  at  the  foot  of  the  two  rocks,  where  they  reach  this  path,  and 
within  thirty  feet  of  the  top  of  the  rock,  are  five  rooms,  which 
have  been  formed  by  dint  of  labor.  The  entrance  to  these  rooms 
is  very  small,  but  when  within,  they  are  found  to  communicate 
with  each  other,  by  doors  or  apertures.  Mr.  Ferguson  thinks 
them  to  have  been  constructed  during  some  dreadful  war,  and 
those  who  constructed  them,  to  have  acted  on  the  defensive;  and 
believes  that  twenty  men  could  have  withstood  the  whole  army  of 
Xerxes,  as  it  was  impossible  for  more  than  one  to  pass  at  a  time; 
and  might  by  the  slightest  push,  be  hurled  at  least  a  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  down  the  rocks.  The  reader  can  indulge  his  own  con- 
jectures, whether,  in  the  construction  of  this  inaccessible  fortress, 
he  does  not  perceive  the  remnant  of  a  tribe  or  nation,  acquainted 
with  the  arts  of  excavation  and  defence;  making  a  last  struggle 
against  the  invasion  of  an  overwhelming  foe;  where,  it  is  likely, 
they  were  reduced  by  famine,  and  perished  amid  the  yells  of  their 
enemies. 


Jl  Description  of  Western  Tumuli  or  Mounds. 

Ancient  Tumuli  are  considered  a  kind  of  antiquities,  differing 
in  character  from  that  of  the  other  works;  both  on  account  of 
what  is  frequently  discovered  in  them,  and  the  manner  of  their 
construction.  They  are  conical  mounds,  either  of  earth  or  stones, 
which  were  intended  for  sacred  and  important  purposes.  In 
many  parts  of  the  world,  similar  mounds  were  used  as  monu- 
ments, sepulchres,  altars  and  temples.  The  accounts  of  these 
works,  found  in  the  Scriptures,  show,  that  their  origin  must  be 
sought  for  among  the  antediluvians. 

That  they  are  very  ancient,  and  were  used  as  places  of  sepul- 
ture, public  resort,  and  public  worship,  is  proved  by  all  the  wri- 
ters of  ancient  times,  both  sacred  and  profane.  Homer,  the 
most  ancient  Greek  poet,  frequently  mentions  them,  particularly 
<k\scribing  the  tumulus  of  Tydeus,  and  the  spot  where  it  was.     la 

12 


178  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

memory  of  the  illustrious  dead,  a  sepulchral  mound  of  earth  was 
raised  over  their  remains;  which,  from  that  time  forward,  be- 
came an  altar,  whereon  to  offer  sacrifices,  and  around  which  to- 
exhibit  games  of  athletic  exercise.  These  offerings  and  games 
were  intended  to  propitiate  their  manes,  to  honor  and  perpetuate 
their  memories.  Prudentius,  a  Roman  bard,  has  told  us,  that 
there  were  in  ancient  Rome,  just  as  many  temples  of  the  gods, 
as  there  were  sepulchres  of  heroes;  implying  that  they  were  the 
same.  Need  I  mention  the  tomb  of  Anchies,  which  Virgil  has 
described,  with  the  offerings  there  presented,  and  the  games  there 
exhibited?  The  sanctity  of  Acropolis,  where  Cecrops  the  Egyp- 
tian and  founder  of  the  Athenian  monarchy  who  lived  about  the 
time  of  Moses,  was  inhumed?  The  tomb  of  the  father  of  Adonis, 
at  Paphos,  whereon  a  temple  dedicated  to  Venus,  was  erected?. 
The  grave  of  Cleomachus,  whereon  stood  a  temple  dedicated  to 
the  worship  of  Apollo?  Finally,  I  would  ask  the  classical  reader, 
if  the  words  translated  tomb,  and  temple,  are  not  used  as  synony- 
mous, by  the  poets  of  Greece  and  Rome?  Virgil,  who  wrote  in 
the  days  of  Augustus  Cossar,  speaks  of  these  tumuli,  as  being  as 
ancient  as  they  were  sacred,  even  in  his  time. 

The  conical  mounds  in  Ohio,  are  either  of  stones  or  of  earth. 
The  former,  in  other  countries,  and  in  former  ages,  were  intended 
as  monuments,  for  the  purpose  of  perpetuating  the  memory  of 
some  important  event,  or  as  altars  whereon  to  offer  sacrifices. 
The  latter  were  used  as  cemeteries  and  as  altars,  on  which,  in 
later  times,  temples  were  erected,  as  among  the  people  of  Greece 
and  Rome. 

The  tumuli  "  are  of  various  altitudes  and  dimensions,  some 
being  only  four  or  five  feet,  and  but  ten  or  twelve  in  diameter,  at 
their  base;  while  others,  as  we  travel  to  the  south,  rise  to  the 
height  of  eighty,  ninety,  and  some  more  than  a  hundred  feet,  and 
cover  many  acres  of  ground.  They  are,  generally,  when  com- 
pleted, in  the  form  of  a  cone.  Those  in  the  north  part  of  Ohio, 
are  of  inferior  size,  and  fewer  in  number,  than  those  along  the 
river.  These  mounds  are  believed  to  exist,  from  the  Rocky 
mountains  in  the  west,  to  the  Alleghanies  in  the  east;  from  the 
southern  shore  of  lake  Erie  to  the  Mexican  gulf;  and  though  few 
and  small  in  the  north,  are  numerous  and  lofty  in  the  south,  yet 
exhibit  proof  of  a  common  origin. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  179 

On  Jonathan  creek,  in  Morgan  county,  are  found  some  mounds 
whose  bases  are  formed  of  well  burnt  bricks,  between  four  and 
five  inches  square.  The  bricks  of  Babel  were  thirteen  inches 
square.  There  are  found  lying  on  the  bricks,  charcoal  cinders, 
and  pieces  of  calcined  human  bones.  Above  them  the  mounds 
were  composed  of  earth,  showing,  that  the  dead  had  been  buried 
in  the  manner  of  several  of  the  eastern  nations,  and  the  mounds 
raised  afterwards  to  mark  the  place  of  their  burial. 

One  of  them  is  about  thirty  feet  in  circumference,  and 
the  stones  yet  look  black,  as  if  stained  with  fire  and  smoke. 
This  circle  of  stones  seems  to  have  been  the  nucleus  on  which 
the  mound  was  formed,  as  immediately  over  them  is  heaped  the 
common  earth  of  the  adjacent  plain.  This  mound  was  originally 
about  ten  feet  high,  and  ninety  in  circumference  at  its  base;  and 
has  every  appearance  of  being  as  old  as  any  in  the  neighbor- 
hood, and  was,  at  the  first  settlement  of  Marietta,  covered  with 
large  trees." 

A  particular  account  of  many  curious  articles,  which  go  to 
show  the  person  buried  there  was  a  member  of  civilized  society, 
is  given  farther  on  in  this  work,  under  the  head  of  "  a  descrip- 
tion of  implements  found  in  the  tumuli."  The  person  buried 
here  was  about  six  feet  in  height,  nothing  differing  from  other 
men  in  the  form  of  his  bones,  except  the  skull,  which  was  uncom- 
monly thick.  The  timber  growing  on  this  mound,  when  it  was 
cleared  off,  was  ascertained  to  be  nearly  five  hundred  years  old, 
from  counting  the  concentric  circles  or  grains  of  the  wood  on 
the  stumps.  On  the  ground  beside  them  were  other  trees  in  a 
state  of  decay,  that  had  fallen  from  old  age. 

If  we  were  to  conjecture,  from  this  sort  of  data,  how  great  a 
lapse  of  years  has  ensued  since  the  abandonment  of  this  mound, 
we  should  pursue  the  following  method.  From  the  time  when  the 
country  became  desolate  of  its  inhabitants,  till  trees  and  forests 
would  begin  to  grow,  cannot  well  be  reckoned  less  than  five 
years.  If  then  they  are  permitted  to  grow  five  hundred  years, 
till  as  large  and  as  old  as  some  of  the  trees  were  on  the  mound 
when  it  was  cleared  by  the  people  of  Marietta,  from  that  time  till 
their  natural  decay  and  fall  to  the  earth,  and  reduction  to  decayed 
wood,  as  was  found  on  the  mound,  could  not  be  less  than  three 
hundred  years,  in  decaying  so  as  to  fall,  and  then  fifty  years  to 


190  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

rot  in;  this  would  give  eight  hundred  and  fifty-five  years  for  the 
first  growth  of  timber.  From  this  time  we  reckon  a  second  crop, 
which  we  will  suppose,  was  the  one  growing  when  the  mound 
was  cleared  of  its  timber;  which  was,  according  to  Mr.  Atwater's 
statement,  "  between  four  and  five  hundred  years;"  add  this  to 
the  age  of  the  first  crop,  say  four  hundred  and  fifty,  and  we  have, 
in  the  whole,  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  five  years  since  it 
was  deserted  of  its  builders.  Dr.  Cutler  supposes  at  least  a  thousand 
years.  Then  it  will  follow,  taking  out  the  time  since  Marietta 
was  settled,  and  the  mound  cleared  of  its  timber,  that  the  country 
was  deserted  about  five  hundred  years  after  the  commencement 
of  the  Christian  era. 

About  the  same  time,  say  from  the  year  410  to  500  of  the 
Christian  era,  the  greater  part  of  Europe  was  devastated  by  the 
Goths,  the  Huns,  the  Heruli,  the  Vandals,  the  Swevri,  the  Alians, 
and  other  savage  tribes,  all  from  the  northern  wilds  of  ancient 
Russia.  By  these  the  western  empire  of  the  Romans,  compre- 
hending Italy,  Germany,  France,  Spain,  and  England,  was  sub- 
verted; all  literature  was  obliterated,  and  the  works  of  the 
learned,  which  contained  the  discoveries  and  improvements  of 
rages,  were  annihilated. 

And  from  all  we  can  make  out  by  observing  the  growth  of 
timber,  with  that  which  is  decayed,  as  found  on  the  deserted 
works  of  the  west,  we  are  inclined  to  believe,  that  about  the  same 
period  of  time  when  Europe  was  overrun  by  the  northern  hordes, 
that  the  region  now  called  the  United  States,  where  the  ancient 
inhabitants  had  fixed  their  abode,  was  also  overrun  by  northern 
hordes  from  toward  Bhering's  strait,  who  had,  in  ages  before,  got 
across  from  Asia,  the  Tartars,  or  Scythians,  and  had  multiplied; 
and  as  they  multiplied,  progressed  farther  and  farther  southerly 
till  they  discovered  an  inhabited  country,  populous,  and  rich,  upon 
whom  they  fell  with  all  the  fury  of  Attila  and  his  Huns;  till  after 
many  a  long  and  dreadful  war,  they  were  reduced  in  numbers, 
and  driven  from  their  country  far  to  the  south;  when  the  rich 
fields,  vast  cities,  innumerable  towns,  with  all  their  works,  were 
.reduced  to  the  ancient  dominion  of  nature,  as  it  was  when  first 
overgrown  immediately  after  the  flood,  except  their  vast  pyramids, 
fortifications,  and  tumuli,  these  being  of  the  same  nature  and 
durability  of  the  hills  and  mountains,  have  stood  the  shock  of  war 
.-and  time — the  monuments  of  powerful  nations  disappeared. 


AXD  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST-  181 

"  In  clearing  out  a  spring  near  some  ancient  ruins  of  the  west 
on  the  bank  of  the  Little  Miami,  not  far  from  its  entrance  into 
the  Ohio,  was  found  a  copper  coin,  four  feet  below  the  surface  of 
the  earth;  from  the  fac  simile  of  which  it  appears,  that  the  char- 
acters on  the  coin  are  old  Persian  characters. — Morse's  Univer 
sal  Geography,  vol.  1,  p.  442. 

The  era  of  the  Persians,  as  noticed  on  the  page  of  history, 
was  from  559,  after  the  flood,  till  334,  before  Christ,  and  were  a 
people  of  great  strength,  of  enterprising  character,  and  enlight- 
ened in  the  arts  and  sciences;  and  for  aught  that  can  be  objected, 
traversed  the  globe,  planted  colonies,  perhaps  even  in  America,, 
as  the  coin,  which  lay  so  deep  beneath  the  surface  of  the  earth, 
would  seem  to  justify;  which  was  truly  a  Persian  coin  of  copper. 
At  Cincinnati,  a  mound,  only  eight  feet  high,  but  one  hundred 
and  twenty  long,  by  sixty  in  breadth,  has  been  opened,  and  is 
now  almost  obliterated,  by  the  construction  of  Main-street,  which 
has  furnished  many  curious  discoveries  relative  to  the  ancient 
inhabitants  who  built  it.  Of  the  articles  taken  from  thence, 
many  have  been  lost;  but  the  most  worthy  of  notice  are  embraced 
in  the  following  catalogue: — 1st.  Pieces  of  jasper,  rock  crystal, 
granite  and  some  other  stones,  cylindrical  at  the  extremes,  and 
swelled  in  the  middle,  with  an  annular  groove  near  the  end.  2d.. 
A  circular  piece  of  stone  coal,  with  a  large  opening  in  the  centre, 
as  if  for  an  axis  or  axel  tree,  and  a  deep  groove;  the  cir- 
cumference suitable  for  a  hand;  it  has  a  number  of  small  perfora- 
tions, disposed  in  four  equidistant  lines,  which  run  from  the  cir- 
cumference towards  the  centre.  3d.  A  small  article  of  the  same 
shape,  with  eight  lines  of  perforations,  but  composed  of  argila- 
ceous  earth,  well  polished;  4th.  A  bone  ornamented  with  several 
lines,  supposed  to  be  hieroglyphical.  5th.  A  sculptured  repre- 
sentation of  the  head  and  beak  of  a  rapacious  bird,  resembling- 
the  eagle.  6th.  A  mass  of  lead  ore,  lumps  of  which  have  been 
found  in  other  tumuli.  7th.  A  quantity  of  isinglass,  (mica  mem- 
brancea,)  several  plates  of  which  have  been  found  in  and  about 
other  mounds.  8th.  A  small  oval  piece  of  sheet  copper,  with  two 
perforations;  a  large  oblong  piece  of  the  same  metal,  with  longi- 
tudinal grooves  and  ridges. 

These  articles  are  described  in  the  fourth  and  fifth  volumes  of 
the  American  Philosophical  Transactions,  by  Governeur  Sargeant 


182  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

and  Judge  Turner,  and  were  supposed,  by  philosopher  Barton,  to 
have  been  designed,  in  part,  for  ornament,  and,  in  part,  for  super- 
stitious ceremonies.  In  addition  to  which,  the  author  of  the  fore- 
going, (Mr.  Atwater,)  says,  he  has  since  discovered,  in  the  same 
mound,  a  number  of  beads,  or  sections,  of  small  hollow  cylinders, 
apparently  of  bone  or  shell. 

Several  large  marine  shells,  cut  in  such  a  manner  as  to  serve 
for  domestic  utensils,  and  nearly  converted  into  a  state  of  chalk; 
several  copper  articles,  each  consisting  of  two  sets  of  circular 
concavo  convex  plates,  the  interior  of  each  set  connected  with 
the  other  by  a  hollow  axis,  around  which  had  been  wound  some 
lint,  and  the  whole  encompassed  by  the  bones  of  a  man's  hand. 
About  the  precincts  of  this  town,  Cincinnati,  human  bones  have 
been  found  "of  different  sizes;  sometimes  enclosed  in  rude  stone 
coffins,  but  oftener  lying  blended  with  the  earth;  generally  sur- 
rounded by  a  portion  of  ashes  and  charcoal,"  as  if  they  had  been 
burnt  either  alive  or  dead,  as  the  Hindoos  burn  both  the  dead 
husband  and  the  living  wife,  on  the  same  funeral  pile.  (See 
Ward's  History  of  the  Hindoos,  p.  57;)  where  he  states,  "that 
not  less  than  five  thousand  of  these  unfortunate  women,  it  is  sup- 
posed, are  burnt  annually."  On  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  to  the 
west,  about  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river  dwell  a  tribe  of 
Indians,  known  by  the  name  of  Tolkotins,  who  compel  the 
widows  of  their  tribe  to  sleep  by  the  dead  bodies  of  their  de- 
ceased husbands,  nine  nights  in  succession  immediately  after 
their  death,  however  offensive  it  may  be.  When  this  period  is 
accomplished,  the  body  is  laid  on  a  pile  of  dry  wood  and  burnt 
to  ashes,  at  which  time,  the  unfortunate  wife  is  forced,  by  the 
friends  of  the  deceased,  into  the  fire,  while  her  own  relations 
stand  by,  and  as  often  as  she  is  pushed  on  to  the  fire,  these  pull 
her  off.  This  kind  of  persecution,  they  continue  till  the  poor 
wretch  is  severely  blistered,  when  they  desist.  The  body  of  her 
lord  is  now  consumed,  when  she  gathers  up  the  bones  from 
among  the  ashes  of  the  wood,  and  carefully  envelopes  them  in 
the  bark  of  the  birch  tree,  and  is  doomed  to  carry  them  about  on 
her  back,  a  year  or  two.  When  the  prescribed  time  is  accom- 
plished, the  relations  on  both  sides  assemble,  and  having  feasted, 
discharge  her  from  farther  penance,  when,  if  she  chooses,  she 
can  marry  again.     So  far  as  is  known,  it  appears  that  this  prac- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  183 

tice,  which  is  purely  of  Hindoo  origin,  is  peculiar  to  this  tribe. — 
Ross  Cox's  late  travels  on  the  Columbia,  p.  329. 

This  practice  as  above,  is  ample  evidence,  that  the  Hindoos 
once  filled  with  their  idolatry,  and  cruel  ceremonies,  the  regions 
of  the  west,  who  came  hither  in  vessels,  in  the  early  ages,  as  we 
shall  show  in  another  part  of  this  volume. 

The  ancient  Jews  practised  the  same  thing;  (See  Amos,  vi.  10.) 
"  And  a  man's  uncle  shall  take  him  up,  and  he  that  burnetii  him, 
to  bring  out  the  bones  out  of  the  house."  The  ancient  Edomites 
burnt  the  dead  bodies  of  their  captured  enemies.  (See  Amos,  ii. 
1:)  "  He,"  that  is  Edom,  "  burned  the  bones  of  the  king  of  Edom 
into  lime."     The  same  may  have  been  practised  in  America. 

Besides  these  relics  found  at  Marietta,  others  equally  interest- 
ing, have  been  procured  from  a  mound  on  the  Little  Muskingum, 
about  four  miles  from  Marietta.  There  are  some  pieces  of  cop- 
per which  appear  to  have  been  the  front  part  of  a  helmet.  It  was 
originally  about  eight  inches  long  and  ybi<rjjbroad,  and  has  marks 
of  having  been  attached  to  leather;  it  is  much  decayed,  and  is 

V  SB  S1U9IOUB  dl\\  R<\  IUOAV  ST2AV  }9lU[8l{  aqj^  ^"9JB[d  \1\\\\  tJ  8Jinb  AVOU 

defence  against  the  blows  of  the  sword,  aimed  at  the  head.  The 
Greeks,  the  Romans,  with  many  other  nations  of  antiquity,  made 
use  of  this  majestic,  beautiful,  warlike  covering  of  the  head. 
But  how  came  this  part  of  the  ancient  armor  in  America?  This 
is  the  mystery,  and  cannot  be  solved,  only  on  the  principle,  that 
we  believe  the  wearers  lived  in  those  ages  coeval  with  the  martial 
exploits  of  the  Medes,  Persians,  Carthaginians,  Egyptians, 
Greeks,  Romans  and  of  the  Celtic  nations  of  Europe.  In  the 
same  mound  on  the  Muskingum,  was  found  a  copper  ornament; 
this  was  on  the  forehead  of  a  human  skeleton,  no  part  of  which 
retained  its  form,  except  that  part  of  the  forehead  where  the 
copper  ornament  lay,  and  had  been  preserved  no  doubt  by  the 
salts  of  that  mineral. 

"  In  Ross  county,  near  Chilicothe,  a  few  years  since,  was  found, 
in  the  hand  of  a  skeleton,  which  lay  buried  in  a  small  mound,  an 
ornament  of  pure  gold;  this  curiosity,  it  is  said,  is  now  in  the 
Museum  at  Philadelphia." — (Atwater.)  The  tumuli,  in  what  is 
called  the  Sciota  country,  are  both  numerous  and  interesting.  But 
south  of  Lake  Erie,  until  we  arrive  at  Worthington,  nine  miles 
north  of  Columbus,  they  are  few  in  number,  and  of  comparatively 


184  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

small  magnitude.  Near  Columbus,  the  seat  of  government  in 
Ohio,  were  several  mounds,  one  of  which  stood  on  an  eminence  in 
the  principle  street,  which  has  been  entirely  removed,  and  con- 
verted into  brick.  It  contained  human  bones,  some  few  articles, 
among  which  was  an  owl,  carved  in  stone,  a  rude  but  very  exact 
representation.  The  owl,  among  the  Romans,  was  the  emblem  of 
wisdom,  and  it  is  not  impossible  but  the  ancients  of  the  west,  may 
have  carved  it  in  the  stone  for  the  same  reason;  who  may  have 
been,  in  part,  Romans,  or  nations  derived  from  them,  or  nations 
acquainted  with  their  manners,  their  gods,  and  their  sculpture,  as 
we  suppose  the  Danes  were.  "  In  another  part  of  the  town  of 
Columbus,  was  a  tumulus  of  clay,  which  was  also  manufactured 
into  brick.  In  this  were  many  human  bones;  but  they  lay  in 
piles  and  in  confusion,"  which  would  seem  to  elicit  the  belief, 
that  these  were  the  bones  of  an  enemy,  or  they  would  have  been 
laid  in  their  accustomed  order.  Or  they  may  have  been  the  bones 
of  the  conquered,  thrown  together  in  a  confused  manner,  and  bu- 
ried beneath  this  mound. 

As  we  still  descend  the  Sciota,  through  a  most  fertile  region  of 
country,  mounds  and  other  ancient  works,  frequently  appear,  until 
we  arrive  at  Circle ville.  Near  the  centre  of  the  circular  fort  at 
Circleville,  was  a  tumulus  of  earth,  about  ten  feet  high,  and  seve- 
ral rods  in  diameter  at  its  base.  On  its  eastern  side,  and  extending 
six  rods  from  it  was  a  semicircular  pavement,  composed  of  pebbles 
such  as  are  found  in  the  bed  of  Sciota  river,  from  whence  they 
appear  to  have  been  taken.  The  summit  of  this  tumulus  was 
nearly  ninety  feet  in  circumference,  with  a  raised  way  to  it,  lead- 
ing from  the  east,  like  a  modern  turnpike.  The  summit  was  level. 
The  outline  of  the  simicircular  pavement,  and  the  wall,  are  still 
discernible.  Mr  Atwater  was  present  when  this  mound  was  re- 
moved and  carefully  examined  the  contents  it  developed.  They 
were  as  follows: — 1.  Two  skeletons,  lying  on  what  had  been  the 
original  surface  of  the  earth.  2.  A  great  quantity  of  arrow  heads, 
some  of  which  were  so  large  as  to  induce  a  belief  that  they  were 
used  for  spear  heads.  3.  The  handle,  either  of  a  small  sword,  or 
a  large  knife,  made  of  an  elk's  horn;  around  the  end  where  the 
blade  had  been  inserted,  was  a  ferule  of  silver,  which,  though 
black,  was  not  much  injured  by  time;  though  the  handle  showed 
the  hole  where  the  blade  had  been  inserted,  yet  no  iron  was  found, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  185 

but  an  oxyde  or  rust  remained,  of  similar  shape  and  size.  The 
swords  of  the  ancient  nations  of  the  old  world,  it  is  known,  were 
very  short.  4.  Charcoal,  and  wood  ashes,  on  which  these  articles 
lay,  were  surrounded  by  several  bricks,  very  well  burnt.  The 
skeleton  appeared  to  have  been  burnt  in  a  large  and  very  hot  fire, 
which  had  almost  consumed  the  bones  of  the  deceased.  This 
skeleton  was  deposited  a  little  to  the  south  of  the  centre  of  the 
tumulus;  and  about  twenty  feet  to  the  north  of  it  was  another, 
with  which  was  found  a  large  mirror,  about  three  feet  in  length, 
one  foot  and  a  half  in  width,  and  one  inch  and  a  half  in  thickness ; 
this  was  of  isinglass,  (mica  membranacea.) 

On  this  mirror  was  a  plate  of  iron,  which  had  become  an  oxyde, 
but  before  it  was  disturbed  by  the  spade,  resembled  a  plate  of  cast 
iron.  The  mirror  answered  the  purpose  very  well  for  which  it  was 
intended.  This  skeleton  had  also  been  burned  like  the  former,  and 
ay  on  charcoal  and  a  considerable  quantity  of  wood  ashes  ;  a 
part  of  the  mirror  is  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  Atwater,  as  also  ar 
piece  of  brick,  taken  from  the  spot  at  the  time.  The  knife,  or 
sword  handle,  was  sent  to  Peal's  museum,  Philadelphia.  To  the 
southwest  of  this  tumulus,  about  forty  rods  from  it,  is  another, 
more  than  ninety  feet  in  height.  It  stands  on  a  large  hill,  which 
appears  to  be  artificial.  This  must  have  been  the  common  ceme- 
try,  as  it  contains  an  immense  number  of  human  skeletons,  of  all 
sizes  and  ages.  These  skeletons  are  laid  horzontally,  with  their 
heads  generally  towards  the  centre,  and  the  feet  towards  the  out- 
side of  the  tumulus.  In  it  have  been  found,  besides  these  skele- 
tons, stone  axes  and  stone  knives,  and  several  ornaments,  with 
holes  through  them,  by  means  of  which,  with  a  cord  passing 
through  these  perforations,  they  could  be  worn  by  their  owners,, 
round  the  neck. 

Sir  Robert  Ker  Porter  says,  that  in  Persia  thousands  of  such 
stones  are  found  belonging  to  the  early  ages  of  that  people,  and 
that  they  were  considered  by  the  Persians  to  be  endowed  with 
supernatural  qualities,  and  were,  therefore,  made  by  the  people  to 
defend  them  from  evil  spirits;  they  are  found  in  great  abundance 
among  the  Hindoos  even  now.  On  the  south  side  of  this  tumulus, 
and  not  far  from  it  was  a  semicircular  fosse,  or  ditch,  six  feet 
deep;  which,  when  examined  at  the  bottom,  was  found  to  con- 
tain a  great  quantity  of  human  bones,  which,  it  is  believed,  were 


186  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

the  remains  of  those  who  had  been  slain  in  some  great  and  de- 
structive battle;  because  they  belonged  to  persons  invariably  who 
had  attained  their  full  size;  while  those  found  in  the  mound  adjoin- 
ing, were  of  all  sizes,  great  and  small,  but  laid  in  good  order, 
while  those  in  the  ditch  were  in  the  utmost  confusion;  and  were, 
no  doubt,  the  conquered  invaders,  buried  thus  ingloriously,  where 
they  they  had  intrenched  themselves,  and  fell  in  the  struggle.  The 
mirror  was  a  monstrous  piece  of  isinglass,  a  lucid  mineral,  larger 
than  we  recollect  to  have  ever  heard  of  before,  and  used  among 
the  rich  of  the  ancients,  for  lights  and  mirrors.  A  mirror  of  any 
kind,  in  which  men  may  be  enabled  to  contemplate  their  own  form, 
is  evidence  of  a  considerable  degree  of  advancement  in  the  arts, 
if  not  even  of  luxury  itself. 

The  Rev.  Robert  G.  Wilson,  D.  D.,  of  Chilicothe,  furnished 
the  Antiquarian  Society,  with  information  concerning  the  mound, 
which  once  stood  near  the  centre  of  that  town.  He  took  pains  to 
write  down  its  contents  at  the  time  of  its  demolition.  Its  perpen- 
dicular height  was  about  fifteen  feet,  and  the  circumference  of  its 
base  about  one  hundred  feet,  composed  wholly  of  sand.  It 
was  not  till  this  pile  of  earth  had  been  removed,  that  the  original 
design  of  its  builders  could  be  discovered.  On  a  common  level 
with  the  surrounding  earth,  at  the  very  bottom  of  this  mound,  they 
had  devoted  about  twenty  feet  square;  this  was  found  to  have  been 
covered  at  first  with  bark,  on  which  lay  a  human  skeleton,  over- 
spread with  a  mat,  manufactured  from  weeds  or  bark,  but  greatly 
decayed.  On  the  breast  of  this  person  lay  what  had  been  a  piece  of 
copper  in  the  form  of  a  cross,  which  had  become  verdigris;  on  the 
breast  also  lay  a  stone  ornament,  three  inches  in  length,  and  two 
and  a  half  in  width,  with  two  perforations,  one  near  each  end, 
through  which  passed  a  string,  by  means  of  which  it  was  suspend- 
ed from  the  wearer's  neck.  On  this  string,  which  appeared  to 
have  been  made  of  the  sinews  of  some  animal,  which  had  been 
cured  or  tanned,  but  were  very  much  injured  by  time,  was  strung 
•a  great  many  beads,  made  of  ivory  or  bone,  he  could  not  tell  which. 
With  these  facts  before  us,  we  are  left  to  conjecture  at  what  time 
this  individuai  lived,  what  were  his  heroic  deeds  in  the  field  of  bat- 
tle; his  wisdom,  his  virtues,  his  eloquence  in  the  councils  of  his 
nation  ;  for  his  cotemporaries  have  testified  in  a  manner  not  to 
be  mistaken,  that  among  them  he  was  held  in  honorable  and  grate- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  187 

ful  remembrance,  by  the  mound  which  was  raised  over  him  at  his 
decease.  The  cross  on  the  breast  of  this  skeleton,  excites  the  most 
surprise,  as  that  the  cross  is  the  emblem  of  the  Christian  religion. 
It  is  true,  a  knowledge  of  this  badge  of  Christianity,  may  have 
been  disseminated  from  Jerusalem,  even  as  far  east  as  China;  as 
we  know  it  was  at  a  very  early  period,  made  known  in  many 
countries  of  Europe,  Africa,  and  Asia;  especially,  at  the  era  when 
the  Roman  emperor  Constantine,  in  the  year  331,  ordered  all  the 
heathen  temples  to  be  destroyed,  for  the  sake  of  Christianity, 
throughout  his  vast  dominion.  The  Gnostic  heresy  of  the  first 
centuries  of  the  Christian  era,  which  spread  itself  into  more  than 
fifty  sects,  wandered  into  all  the  countries  of  the  known  world. — 
In  Africa,  Asia,  and  Europe,  are  still  found  gems,  coins,  and  va- 
rious precious  stones,  having  engravings  upon  them  the  emblems 
of  their  genii  and  their  mystical  characters,  mingled  with  allusions, 
also,  to  the  Christian  religion.  This  cross,  therefore,  may  it  not 
have  been  left  on  the  bosom  of  this  skeleton  by  some  officiating 
priest  of  the  Gnostics,  even  here  in  America?  (For  an  account 
of  the  Gnostics,  see  the  Amulet,  1832,  by  Marmion  Savage,  A.  B., 
p.  282.) 

The  reader  may  recollect,  we  have  elicited  an  argument,  from 
the  age  of  the  timber,  or  forest  trees,  growing  on  the  mound,  at 
Marietta,  proposing  to  show  the  probable  era  when  the  country  be- 
came depopulated;  and  come  to  the  conclusion,  that  at  least, 
about  thirteen  hundred  years  have  passed  away  since  that  catas- 
trophe. 

This  would  give  about  five  hundred  years  from  Christ  till  the 
depopulation  of  the  ancient  western  country;  so  that,  during  the 
lapse  of  those  five  centuries,  a  knowledge  of  what  had  been  propa- 
gated at  Jerusalem  about  Christ,  may  have  been,  easily  enough  by 
missionaries,  travelling  philosophers  of  the  Romans,  Greeks,  or 
of  other  nations,  carried  as  well  to  China,  as  to  other  distant 
countries,  as  we  know  was  the  fact,  during  those  centuries.  The 
string  of  beads,  and  the  stone  on  his  breast,  which  we  take  the 
liberty  of  calling  the  Shalgramu  stone,  or  the  stone  in  which  the 
Hindoos  suppose  the  god  Vishnoo  resides;  together  with  the  cop- 
per cross  on  his  breast,  and  beads  on  his  neck,  are  circumstances, 
■which  strongly  argue  that  a  mixture  of  Gnosticism,  Brahminism, 
and  Christianity  were  embraced  by  this  individual.    To  prove  that 


189  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

the  wearing  of  beads  around  the  neck,  or  on  the  arm,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  devotion,  is  a  Hindoo  custom,  we  refer  to  Ward's  late  his- 
tory of  those  nations,  who  was  a  Baptist  missionary,  among  that 
people,  and  died  in  that  country.  This  author  says,  (page  40,) 
that  Brumha,  the  grandfather  of  the  gods,  holds  in  his  hand,  a 
string  of  beads,  as  an  evidence  of  his  devotion  or  goodness. 
Ungee,  the  regent  of  fire,  is  represented  with  a  bead  roll  in  his 
hand,  to  show  that  he  is  merciful  or  propitious  to  those  who  call 
upon  him. — Page  45. 

The  Hindoo  mendicants,  or  saints,  have  invariably,  a  string  of 
beads,  made  of  bone,  teeth  of  animals,  ivory,  stones,  or  the  seeds 
of  plants,  or  of  something,hanging  about  their  necks,  or  on  their 
arms,  which  they  recount,  calling  over  and  over,  without  end,  the 
name  of  the  god,  as  evidence  of  devotion  to  him. — Page  422. 

The  devotions  of  the  ascetic  disciples  among  the  Hindoos,  con- 
sists in  repeating  incessantly  the  name  of  their  god,  using,  at 
the  same  time,  the  bead  roll,  or  l'oasy,  as  the  catholics  do. — - 
Page  427. 

"  Strings  of  beads  were  used  for  this  purpose,  from  remotest 
antiquity,  in  all  eastern  Asia." — (Humboldt,  p.  204.) 

This  author  further  says,  "  the  rosarie^  which  is  a  string  of 
beads,  "  have  been  in  use  in  Thibet  and  China,  from  time  imme- 
morial ;  and  that  the  custom  passed  from  the  east,  viz  :  China, 
to  the  Christians  in  the  west,  viz:  Europe  ;"  and  are  found  among 
the  catholics  ;  no  other  sect  of  Christians,  of  the  latter  ages  that 
we  know  of,  have  borrowed  any  trappings  from  the  pagans,  to 
aid  their  devotions,  but  this.  The  stone  found  on  his  breast,  as 
before  remarked,  we  assume  to  call  the  Shalgramu  stone.  See 
also,  Ward's  account  of  this  stone,  page  41  and  44,  as  follows  : 
— A  stone  called  the  Shalgramu  is  a  form  of  the  god  Vishnoo,  and 
is  in  another  case,  the  representative  of  the  god  Saoryu,  or  the 
sun. — Page  52. 

The  Shalgramu,  or  Lingu,  is  a  black  stone,  found  in  a  part  of 
the  Gundeekee  river.  They  are  mostly  perforated,  in  one  or 
more  places,  by  worms,  while  at  the  bottom  of  the  river  ;  but  the 
Hindoos  believe  the  god  Vishnoo,  in  the  shape  of  a  reptile,  resides 
in  this  stone,  and  caused  the  holes.  With  this  belief,  how  very 
natural  it  would  be  to  wear  on  the  breast,  either  in  view  or  con- 
cealed, this  stone,  as  an  amulet,  or  charm,  as  found  on  the  breast 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  139 

of  this  skeleton,  in  union  with  the  cross.  We  are  inclined  to 
believe,  that  the  Roman  catholic  religion,  borrowed,  at  a  very- 
early  period,  after  their  peculiar  formation  and  corruption,  sub- 
sequent to  the  time  of  Constantine,  the  notion  of  the  rosary,  or 
bead  roll,  which  they  recount  while  saying  prayers,  from  the  Hin- 
doos; and  that  from  Christian  missionaries,  the  Hindoo  Brahmins 
borrowed  the  idea  of  the  cross,  which  they  might  also  wear,  to- 
gether with  the  Lingu  stone,  as  an  amulet  or  charm.  For  we  see  on 
the  breast  of  this  person,  both  the  emblem  of  Christianity,  and  of 
the  Hindoo's  superstition,  on  which  account,  we  are  of  the  opinion 
that  the  ministers  of  the  Brahmin  religion,  lie  buried  beneath 
many  of  the  western  mounds. 

Mr.  Ward  informs  us,  page  272,  that  near  the  town  of  Dravi- 
na,  in  Hondostan-hu,  are  shown  to  this  day,  or  at  the  time  he 
lived  in  India,  four  small  elevations,  or  mounds,  from  the  top  of 
which,  the  great  ascetic  philosopher,  Shunkuracharyu,  used  to 
teach  and  harangue  the  people  and  his  disciples.  From  this  cir- 
cumstance, we  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  oratorial  use  of  the  mounds 
in  the  east;  and  why  not  the  same  use  be  derived  from  them  to  the 
ancient  people  of  the  west ;  and  more  especially  so,  if  they  may 
be  believed  to  have,  in  any  measure,  derived  themselves  from 
any  nations  of  the  Chinese  world. 


Great    Works  of the  Ancient  Nations  on  the   Worth  Fork  of 
Paint  Creek. 

On  the  north  branch  of  this  creek,  five  miles  from  Chilicothe, 
are  works  so  immense,  that  although  we  have  given  the  reader 
several  accounts  of  this  kind,  yet  we  cannot  well  pass  over  these. 
They  are  situated  on  an  elevated  piece  of  land,  called  the  second 
bottom.  The  first  bottom,  or  flat,  extends  from  Paint  creek,  till 
it  is  met  by  a  bank  of  twenty-five  feet  in  height,  which  runs  in 
a  straight  line,  and  parallel  with  the  stream.  One  hundred  rods 
from  the  top  of  this  first  bank,  is  another  bank,  of  thirty  feet  in 
height  ;  the  wall  of  the  works  runs  up  this  bank,  and  twenty  rods 


190  AMERICAN    ANT^UITIE8 

beyond  it.  The  whole  land  enclosed,  is  six  hundred  and  twenty- 
rods  in  circumference,  and  contains  one  hundred  and  twenty-six 
acres  of  land.  This  second  bank  runs  also  parallel  with  the  creek, 
and  with  the  first.  On  this  beautiful  elevation,  is  situated  this 
immense  work,  containing  within  it,  seventeen  mounds  of  different 
sizes.  Three  hundred  and  eight  rods  of  this  fort  are  encompassed 
with  a  wall  twelve  feet  high,  a  ditch  twenty  feet  wide,  and  the 
wall  the  same  at  its  base.  Two  hundred  and  forty  rods,  running 
along  on  the  top  of  the  first  bank,  is  the  rest  of  the  wall  ;  but  is 
without  a  ditch  ;  this  is  next  to  the  river  or  creek,  between  which 
end  the  water,  is  the  first  bottom  or  flat.  At  the  time  the  builders 
of  this  vast  work  erected  it;  it  is  likely  that  the  Creek  run  along, 
near  the  wall,  but  has  now  receded,  by  being  drained  off,  at  the 
time  the  Ohio  with  other  western  rivers  ruptured  the  mountains 
which  evidently  once  dammed  them  up,  of  which  we  shall  speak 
in  due  time.  Within  this  great  enclosure,  is  a  circular  work  of 
one  hundred  rods  in  circumference,  with  a  wall  and  ditch  sur- 
rounding it,  of  the  same  height  of  the  other  wall.  Within  this 
great  circle,  are  six  mounds,  of  the  circular  form  ;  these  are  full 
of  humane  bones  ;  the  rest  of  the  mounds,  eleven  in  number,  are 
for  some  other  purpose.  There  are  seven  gateways,  of  about  five 
rods  in  width  each.  "The  immense  labor,  and  numerous  ceme- 
teries filled  with  human  bones,  denote  a  vast  population,  near  this 
spot,  in  ancient  times." — (Atwater.) 

"  Tumuli  are  very  common  on  the  river  Ohio,  from  its  utmost 
sources  to  its  month,  although  on  the  Monongahela,  they  are  few, 
and  comparatively  small,  but  increase  in  number  and  size,  as  we 
descend  towards  the  mouth  of  that  stream  at  Pittsburgh,  where  the 
Ohio  begins;  after  this  they  are  still  more  numerous  and  of  great- 
er dimensions,  till  we  arrive  at  Grave  creek,  below  Wheeling. 
At  this  place,  situated  between  two  creeks,  which  run  into  the 
Ohio,  a  little  way  from  the  river,  is  one  of  the  most  extraordinary 
and  august  monuments  of  antiquity,  of  the  mound  description. 
Its  circumference  at  its  base,  is  fifty-six  rods,  its  perpendicular 
height  ninety  feet,  its  top  seven  rods  and  eight  feet  in  circumfer- 
ence. The  centre  at  the  summit,  appears  to  have  sunk  several 
feet,  so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  amphitheatre.  The  rim  enclosing 
this  concavity  is  seven  or  eight  feet  in  thickness  ;  on  the  south 
side,  in  the  edge  of  this  rim,  stands  a  large  beech  tree,  the  bark 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  191 

of  which  is  marked  with  the  initials  of  a  great  number  of  visi- 
tants." 

This  lofty  and  venerable  tumulus  has  been  so  far  opened  as  to 
ascertain  that  it  contains  many  thousands  of  human  skeletons, 
but  no  farther;  the  proprietor  will  not  sutler  its  demolition,  in  the 
least  degree,  for  which  he  is  highly  praiseworthy. 

Following  the  river  Ohio  downwards,  the  mounds  appear  on 
both  sides,  erected  uniformly  on  the  highest  alluvials  along  that 
stream,  increasing  in  numbers  all  the  way  to  the  Mississippi,  on 
which  river  they  assume  the  largest  size.  Not  having  surveyed 
them,  (says  Mr.  Atwater,)  we  shall  use  the  description  of  Mr. 
Breckenridge,  who  travelled  much  in  the  west,  and  among  the 
Indians;  and  devoted  much  attention  to  the  subject  of  these  aston- 
ishing western  antiquities. 

"  These  tumuli,  (says  Mr.  Breckenridge,)  as  well  as  the  fortifi- 
cations, are  to  be  found  at  the  junction  of  all  the  rivers  along  the 
Mississippi,  in  the  most  eligible  positions  for  towns,  and  in  the 
most  extensive  bodies  of  fertile  land.  Their  number  exceeds, 
perhaps  three  thousand  ;  the  smallest,  not  less  than  twenty  feet 
in  height,  and  three  hundred  in  circumference  at  the  base. — 
Their  great  number,  and  their  amazing  size,  may  be  regarded 
as  furnishing,  with  other  circumstances,  evidence  of  their  great 
antiquity. 

I  have  been  sometimes  induced  to  think,  that  at  the  period  when 
these  were  constructed,  there  was  a  population  as  numerous  as 
that  which  once  animated  the  borders  of  the  Nile,  or  the  Euph- 
rates. The  most  numerous,  as  well  as  the  most  considerable  of 
these  remains,  are  found  precisely  in  those  parts  of  the  country 
where  the  traces  of  a  numerous  population  might  be  looked  for, 
namely,  from  the  mouth  of  Ohio,  on  the  east  side  of  the  river,  to 
the  Illnois,  and  on  the  west  side,  from  the  St.  Francis  to  the  Mis- 
souri. I  am  perfectly  satisfied  that  cities  similar  to  those  of  anci- 
ent Mexico,  of  several  hundred  thousand  souls,  have  existed  in 
this  western  country." 

From  this  view  we  are  compelled  to  look  upon  those  nations  as 
agriculturists,  or  they  could  not  have  subsisted  ;  neither  wild 
game  nor  fish  could  possibly  support  so  great  a  population.  If 
agriculturists,  then  it  must  follow,  of  necessity,  that  many  modes 
of  building,   as  with  stone,  timber,  earth  or  clay,  and  brick  were 


192  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIE8 

practised  and  known,  as  well  as  methods  of  clearing  the  earth  of 
heavy  timber.  And  if  they  had  not  a  knowledge  of  metals,  we 
cannot  well  conceive  how  they  could  have  removed  the  forests  for 
the  purposes  of  husbandry,  and  space  for  building.  But  if  we 
suppose  they  did  not  build  houses  with  wood,  stone  and  brick,  but 
lived  in  tents  or  some  fragile  hut,  yet  the  use  of  metals  cannot  be 
dispensed  with,  on  account  of  the  forest  to  be  removed  for  agri- 
cultural purposes.  Baron  Humboldt  informs  us,  in  his  Researches 
in  South  America,  that  when  he  crossed  the  Cordillera  mountains, 
by  the  way  of  Panama  and  Assuay,  and  viewed  the  enormous 
masses  of  stone  cut  from  the  porhyry  quarries  of  Pullal,  which 
was  employed  in  constructing  the  ancient  highroads  of  the  Incas, 
that  he  began  to  doubt  whether  the  Peruvians  were  not  acquainted 
with  other  tools  than  hatches  made  of  flint  and  stone  ;  and  that 
grinding  one  stone  on  another  to  make  them  smooth  and  level,  was 
not  the  only  method  they  had  employed  in  this  operation.  On 
which  account  he  adopted  a  new  opinion,  contrary  to  those  gene- 
rally received.  He  conjectured  that  they  must  have  had  tools 
made  of  copper,  hardened  with  tin,  such  as  it  is  known  the  early 
nations  of  Asia  made  use  of.  This  conjecture  was  fully  sustained 
by  the  discovery  of  an  ancient  Peruvian  mining  chisel,  in  a  silver 
mine  at  Vilcabamba,  which  had  been  worked  in  the  time  of  the 
Incas.  This  instrument  of  copper  was  four  inches  long,  and  three- 
fourths  of  an  inch  wide  ;  which  he  carried  with  him  to  Europe, 
where  he  had  it  analyzed,  and  found  it  to  contain  ninety-four  parts 
•of  copper  and  six  of  tin.  He  says,  that  this  keen  copper  of  the 
Peruvians  is  almost  identically  the  same  with  that  of  the  ancient 
Gallic  axe,  which  cut  wood  nearly  as  well  as  if  made  of  iron  and 
steel. 

Every  where  on  the  old  continent,  at  the  beginning  of  the  civil- 
ization of  nations,  the  use  of  copper,  mixed  with  tin,  prevailed 
over  that  of  iron,  even  in  places  where  the  latter  had  been  for  a 
Jong  time  known.  Antonio  de  tHerera,  in  the  tenth  book  of  his 
History  of  the  West  Indies,  says  expressly  that  the  inhabitants  of 
the  maritime  coast  of  Zoctallan,  in  America,  prepared  two  sorts 
of  copper,  of  which'one  was  hard  and  cutting,  and  the  other  mal- 
leable. The  hard  copper  was  to  make  hatchets,  weapons  and  in- 
struments of  agriculture  with,  and  that  it  was  tempered  with  tin. 
— (Humboldt,  vol.  1,  pp.  260—269.) 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  193 

Among  a  great  variety  of  the  gods  of  the  people  of  the  Tonga 
islands,  in  the  South  Pacific  ocean,  is  found  one  god  named  To-gi 
Ocummea,  which  is,  literally,  the  iron  axe.  From  which  circum- 
stance we  imagine  the  people  of  those  islands,  sometimes  called 
the  Friendly  Islands,  were,  at  some  period  before  their  having 
been  discovered  by  Captain  Cook,  acquainted  with  the  use  of  iron 
and  consequently  in  a  more  civilized  condition.  Because  men,  in 
those  early  times,  were  apt  to  deify  almost  every  thing,  but  e 
pecially  those  things  the  most  useful. 

Were  the  people  of  Christendom  to  lose  their  knowledge  of 
the  true  God,  and  to  fall  back  into  nature's  ignorance,  is  there 
an  article  within  the  compass  of  the  arts  which  would  from  its 
usefulness  have  a  higher  claim  to  deification  than  the  metal  called 
iron. 

That  group  of  islands  belongs  to  the  immense  range  shooting- 
out  from  New-Hollaiid,  in  south  latitude  about  20  deg.  and  once 
perhaps  were  united  to  China,  forming  a  part  of  the  continent. 
But,  however  this  may  be,  the  first  inhabitants  of  those  islands 
were  derived  from  China,  and  carried  with  them  a  knowledge  of 
the  arts ;  among  which  was  that  of  the  use  of  iron,  in  form  of 
ih?  axe,  which,  it  appears,  had  become  deified  from  its  useful- 
ness. The  reason  of  the  loss  of  this  knowledge,  must  have  been 
the  separation  of  their  country  from  the  continent  by  convulsions, 
from  age  to  age  ;  which  not  only  altered  the  shape  and  condition 
of  the  land,  but  threw  the  inhabitants  into  confusion,  separating 
them  far  from  each  other,  the  sea  running  between,  so  that  they 
became  reduced  to  savagism,  as  they  were  found  by  the  first 
Christian  nations. 


Traits  of  ancient  Cities  on  the  Mississippi. 

Nearly  opposite  St.  Louis,  there  are  the  traces  of  two  ancient 
cities,  in  the  distance  of  a  few  miles,  situated  on  the  Cohokia  creek, 
which  empties  into  the  Mississippi,  but  a  short  distance  below 
that  place.  Here  is  situated  one  of  those  pyramids,  which  is  one 
hundred  and  fifty  rods  in  circumference  at  its  base,  (nearly  half 
a  mile,)  an  J  one  hundred  feet  high.  At  St.  Louis  is  one  with  two 

13 


194  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

stages  or  landing  places,  as  the  architectural  phrase  is.  There 
is  another  with  three  stages,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Missouri,  a  few 
miles  above  St.  Louis.  With  respect  to  the  stages,  or  landing 
places  of  these  pyramids,  we  are  reminded  of  the  tower  once 
standing  in  old  Babylon,  which  had  eight  stages  from  its  base  to 
the  summit,  making  it  six  hundred  feet  high.  At  the  mouth  of 
the  Cohokia  creek,  a  short  distance  below  St.  Louis,  are  two 
groups  of  those  mounds,  of  smaller  size,  but  we  are  not  inform- 
ed of  their  exact  number.  AtBayeau  Manchac  and  Baton  Rogue, 
are  several  mounds,  one  of  which  is  composed  chiefly  of  shells, 
which  the  inhabitants  burn  into  lime.  There  is  a  mound  on 
Black  river,  which  has  two  stages  or  stories  ;  this  is  surrounded 
with  a  group  of  lesser  ones,  as  well  as  those  at  Bayeau  Manchac, 
and  Baton  Rouge.  There  is  one  of  those  pyramids  near  Wash- 
ington, in  the  State  of  Mississippi,  which  is  one  hundred  and  forty 
six  feet  high  ;  which  is  little  short  of  nine  rods  perpendicular  ele- 
vation, and  fifty-six  rods  in  circumference.  Mr.  Breckenridge  is 
of  the  opinion  that  the  largest  city  belonging  to  this  people,  the 
authors  of  the  mounds  and  other  works,  was  situated  on  the  plains 
between  St.  Francis  and  the  Arkansas.  There  is  no  doubt  but  in 
the  neighborhood  of  St.  Louis  must  have  been  cities  or  large 
towns  of  these  ancient  people  ;  as  the  number  and  size  of  the- 
mounds  above  recounted  would  most  certainly  justify. 

Fifteen  miles  in  a  south  westerly  direction  from  the  town  of 
St.  Louis,  on  the  Merrimack  river,  was  discovered,  by  a  Mr. 
Long,  on  lands  which  he  had  purchased  there,  several  mounds  of 
the  ordinary  size,  as  found  in  the  valley  of  the  Mississippi,  all  of 
which  go  to  establish  that  this  country,  lying  between  the  Missouri 
and  the  Mississippi  rivers,  below  St.  Louis,  and  between  the  junc- 
tion of  the  Illinois  and  the  Mississippi  above,  with  the  whole  re- 
gion about  the  union  of  those  rivers  with  each  other, — which  are 
all  not  far  from  St.  Louis — was  once  the  seat  of  empire,  equal,  if 
not  surpassing,  the  population  and  the  arts  as  once  they  flourish- 
ed on  the  plains  of  Shinar,  the  seat  of  Chaldean  power,  and  on. 
the  banks  of  the  Euphrates. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  195 


Tradition  of  the  Mexican  Natives  respecting  their  Migration 
from  the  North. 

In  corroboration  of  Mr.  Atwater's  opinion  with  respect  to  the 
gradual  remove  of  the  ancient  people  of  the  west  toward  Mexico, 
we  subjoin  what  we  have  gathered  from  the  Researches  of  Baron 
Humboldt,  on  that  point.  See  Helen  Maria  William's  translation 
of  Humboldt's  Researches  in  America,  vol.  2,  page  67;  from 
which  it  appears  the  people  inhabiting  the  vale  of  Mexico,  at  the 
time  the  Spaniards  overrun  that  country,  were  called  Aztecks,  or 
Aztekas;  and  were,  as  the  Spanish  history  informs  us,  usurpers, 
having  come  from  the  north,  from  a  country  which  they  called 
Aztalan. 

This  country  of  Aztalan,  Baron  Humboldt  says,  "  we  must 
look  for  at  least  north  of  the  forty-second  degree  of  latitude." 
He  comes  to  this  conclusion  from  an  examination  of  the  Mexican 
or  Azteka  manuscripts,  which  were  made  of  a  certain  kind  of 
leaves,  and  of  skins  prepared;  on  which  an  account  in  painted 
hieroglyphics,  or  pictures,  was  given*  of  their  migration  from 
Aztalan  to  Mexico,  and  how  long  they  halted  at  certain  places  ; 
which,  in  the  aggregate,  amounts  to  "  four  hundred  and  sixteen 
years." 

The  following  names  of  places  appear  on  their  account  of  their 
journeyings,  at  which  places  they  made  less  or  more  delay,  and 
built  towns,  forts,  tumuli,  &c. 

1st.  A  place  of  Humiliation  and  a  place  of  Grottoes.  It  would 
seem  at  this  place  they  were  much  afflicted  and  humbled;  but  in 
what  manner  is  not  related;  and  also  at  this  place,  from  the  term 
grottoes,  that  it  was  a  place  of  caverns  and  dens,  probably  where 
they  at  first  hid  and  dwelt,  till  they  built  a  town  ana  cleared  the 
ground.  Here  they  built  the  places  which  they  called  Tocalco 
and  Oztatan. 

2d  journey.  They  stopped  at  a  place  of  fruit  trees  ;  probably 
meaning,  as  it  was  farther  south,  a  place  where  nature  was 
abundant  in  nuts,  grapes,  and  wild  fruit  trees.  Here  they 
built  a  mound  or  tumuli;  and,  in  their  language,  it  is  called  a  Te- 
ocali. 

13* 


196  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

3d  journey;  when  they  stopped  at  a  place  of  herbs,  with  broad 
leaves  ;  probably  meaning  a  place  where  many  succulent  plants 
grew,  denoting  a  good  soil,  which  invited  them  to  pitch  their  tents 
here. 

4th  journey;  when  they  came  to  a  place  of  human  bones; 
where  they,  either  during  their  stay,  had  battles  with  each  oth- 
er, or  with  some  enemy  ;  or  they  may  have  found  them  al- 
ready there,  the  relics  of  other  nations  before  them;  for,  according 
to  Humboldt,  this  migration  of  the  Aztekas  took  place  A.  D.  778; 
so  that  other  nations  certainly  had  preceded  them,  also  from  the 
north. 

5th  journey;  they  came  to  a  place  of  eagles. 

6th  journey;  to  a  place  of  precious  stones  and  minerals. 

7th  journey;  to  a  place  of  spinning,  where  they  manufactured 
clothing  of  cotton,  barks,  or  of  something  proper  for  clothing  of 
some  sort,  and  mats  of  rushes  and  feathers. 

8th  journey  ;  they  came  to  another  place  of  eagles,  called 
the  Eagle  mountain:  or,  in  their  own  language,  Quauktli  Tepee: 
Tepee,  says  Humboldt,  in  the  Turkish  language,  is  the  word  for 
mountain;  which  two  words  are  so  near  alike,  tepee,  and  tepe, 
that  it  would  seem  almost  an  Arab  word,  or  a  word  used  by  the 
Turks. 

9th  journey;  when  they  came  to  a  place  of  walls,  and  the  se- 
ven grottoes;  which  shows  the  place  had  been  inhabited  before, 
and  these  seven  grottoes  were  either  caves  in  the  earth,  or  were 
made  in  the  side  of  some  mountain,  by  those  who  had  preceded 
them. 

10th  journey;  when  they  came  to  a  place  of  thistles,  sand  and 
vultures. 

11th  journey;  when  they  came  to  a  place  of  Obsidian  mirrors, 
which  is  much  the  same  with  that  of  isinglass,  scientifically  called 
mica  membranacea.  This  mineral  substance  is  frequently  found 
in  the  tumuli  of  the  west,  and  is  called  by  the  Mexicans  the  shining 
god.  The  obsidian  stone,  however,  needs  polishing  before  it  will 
answer  as  a  mirror. 

12th  journey;  came  to  a  place  of  water,  probably  some  lake 
or  beautiful  fountains,  which  invited  their  residence  there,  on  the 
account  not  only  of  the  water,  but  for  fishing  and  game. 

13th  journey;  they  came  to  the  place  of  the  Divine  Monkey, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST. 


197 


called,  in  their  own  language,  Teozomoco.  In  the  most  ancient 
Hebrew,  this  animal  is  called  K-oph,  Kooph  and  Kuphon;  in  the 
Arabic,  which  is  similar  to  the  Hebrew,  it  is  called  K-ha-noos, 
Khanassa,  and  Chanass;  all  of  which  words  bear  a  strong  resem- 
blance to  the  Mexican  Te-oz-o-moco,  especially  to  the  Arabic 
Khanooss.  Here,  it  would  seem,  they  set  up  the  worship  of  the 
monkey,  or  baboon,  as,the  ancient  Egyptians  are  known  to  have 
done.  This  animal  is  found  in  Mexico,  according  to  Hum- 
boldt. 

14th  journey;  when  they  came  to  a  high  mountain,  proba- 
bly with  table  lands  on  it,  which  they  called  Chopaltepec,  or 
mountain  of  locusts  :  "  A  place,"  says  Baron  Humboldt,  "  cel- 
ebrated for  the  magnificent  view  from  the  top  of  this  hill  ;" 
which,  it  appears,  is  in  the  Mexican  country,  and  probably  not 
far  from  the  vale  of  Mexico,  where  they  finally  and  permanently 
rested. 

15th  journey;  when  they  came  to  the  vale  of  Mexico  ;  having 
here  met  with  the  prodigy,  or  fulfilment  of  the  prophecy,  or  ora- 
cle, which  at  their  outset  from  the  country  of  Aztalan,  Huehue- 
tlapallan,  and  Amaquemecan;  which  was,  (see  Humboldt,  vol.  2, 
p.  185,)  that  the  migrations  of  the  Aztcks  should  not.  terminate 
till  the  chiefs  of  the  nation  should  meet  with  an  eagle,  perched  on 
a  cactus  tree,  or  prickly  pear;  at  such  a  place  they  might  found 
a  city.  This  was,  as  their  bull-hide  books  inform  us,  in  the  vale 
of  Mexico. 

We  have  related  this  account  of  the  Azteka  migration  from 
the  country  of  Aztalan,  Huehuetlapallan,  and  Amaquemacan, 
from  the  regions  of  north  latitude  forty-two  degrees  merely  to 
show  that  the  country,  provinces,  or  districts,  so  named  in 
their  books,  must  have  been  the  country  of  Ohio,  Mississippi, 
and  Illinois,  with  the  whole  region  thereabout;  lor  these  are  not 
far  from  the  very  latitude  named  by  Humboldt,  as  the  region  of 
Aztalan,  &c. 

The  western  country  is  note  distinguished  by  the  general  name 
of  the  "lake  country;-'  and  why?  because  it  is  a  country  of 
lakes;  and  for  the  same  reason  it  was  called  by  the  Mexican,  Az- 
teka, Indian?,  Aztalans,  because  in  their  language  atl  is  water, 
from  which  Aztalan  is  doubtless  a  derivative,  as  well  abo,  as  their 


198  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

own  name  as  a  nation,  or  title,  which  was  Astecas,  or  people  of 
the  lakes. 

This  account,  derived  from  the  Mexicans  since  their  reduction 
by  the  Spaniards,  gathered  from  the  researches  of  learned  travel- 
lers, who  have,  for  the  very  purpose  of  learning  the  origin  of  ihe 
people  of  this  country,  penetrated  not  only  into  the  forest  retreats 
in  the  woods  of  Mexico,  but  into  the  mysteries  of  their  hard  lan- 
guage, their  theology,  philosophy  and  astronomy.  This  account  of 
their  migration,  as  related  above,  is  corroborated  by  the  tradition 
of  the  Wyandot  Indians. 

We  come  to  a  knowledge  of  this  tradition  by  the  means  of  a 
Mr.William  Walker,  some  time  Indian  agent  for  our  government; 
who,  it  seems,  from  a  pamphlet  published,  1823,  by  Frederick 
Falley,  of  Sandusky,  giving  Mr.  Walker's  account,  that  a  great 
many  hundred  years  ago,  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America,who 
were  the  authors  of  the  great  works  of  the  west,  were  driven  away 
from  their  country  and  possessions  by  barbarous  and  savage  hordes 
of  warriors,  who  came  from  the  north  and  northeast,  before  whose 
power  and  skill  in  war,  they  were  compelled  to  flee,  and  went  to 
the  south. 

After  having  been  there  many  hundred  years,  a  runner  came 
back  into  the  same  country  from  whence  the  ancient  people  had 
been  driven,  which  we  suppose  is  the  very  country  of  Aztalan, 
or  the  region  of  the  western  States,  bringing  the  intelligence, 
that  a  dreadful  beast  had  landed  on  their  coast  along  the  sea, 
which  was  spreading  among  them  havoc  and  death,  by  means  of 
fire  and  thunder  ;  and  that  it  would  no  doubt  travel  all  over  the 
country,  for  the  same  purpose  of  destruction.  This  beast,  whose 
voice  was  like  thunder,  and  whose  power  to  kill  was  like  fire,  we 
have  no  doubt  represents  the  cannon  and  small  arms  of  the  Span- 
iards, when  they  first  commenced  the  murder  of  the  people  of 
South  America. 


Supposed  Uses  of  the  Jlncient  Roads  connected  with  the 

Mounds. 
Ancient  roads,  or  highways,  which  in  many  parts  of  the  west 
are  found  walled  in  on  both  sides  for  many  miles,  where  the  forest 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  199 

trees  are  growing  as  abundant,  and  as  large,  and  aged,  as  in  any 
part  of  the  surrounding  woods.  We  have  already  mentioned  seve- 
ral roads  which  have  always  been  found  connected  with  some 
great  works;  as  at  Piketon,  Portsmouth,  Newark,  Licking  county, 
and  at  the  works  on  the  Little  Miami  river.  These  roads,  where 
they  have  been  traced,  are  found  to  communicate  with  some 
mound,  or  mountain,  which  had  been  shaped  by  art  to  suit  the 
purposes  of  those  who  originated  these  stupendous  works.  The 
circumstance  of  their  being  walled  in  by  banks  of  earth,  leaving 
from  one  to  four  and  six  rods  space  between,  has  excited  much 
inquiry  as  to  the  reason  and  purposes  of  their  construction.  But 
may  not  this  grand  characteristic  of  the  people  of  the  west  in  road 
building,  be  illustrated  by  comparing  a  practice  of  the  Mexicans 
with  this  fact  1  We  will  show  the  practice,  and  then  dr  w  the 
conclusion. 

"  The  Mexicans  believed,  according  to  a  very  ancient  tradi- 
tion, that  the  end  of  the  world  would  take  place  at  the  termina- 
tion of  every  cycle  of  fifty-two  years;  that  the  sun  would  no  more 
appear  on  the  horizon,  and  that  mankind  would  be  devoured  by 
evil  genii  of  hideous  appearance,  known  under  the  name  of  Tzit- 
zimimes. 

"On  the  last  day  of  this  great  cycle  of  time,  of  fifty-two  years, 
the  sacred  fires  were  extinguished  in  all  their  temples  and  dwel- 
lings, and  every  where,   all  the  people   devoting  themselves  to 
prayer;  no  person  daring  to  light  a  fire   at  the  approach  of  the 
night;  the  vessels  of  clay  were  broken,  garments  torn,  and  what- 
ever was  most  precious  was  destroyed,  because  every  thing  ap- 
peared useless  at  the  tremendous  moment  of  the  last  day;  amidst 
this  frantic  superstition,  pregnant  women  became  the  objects  of  pe- 
culiar horror  to  the  men;  they  caused  their   faces  to  be  hidden 
with  masks  made  with  the  paper  of  the   agave;  they  were  even 
imprisoned  in  the  store  houses  of  maize  or  corn,  from  a  persua- 
sion that  if  the  catastrophe  took  place,  the  women,  transformed 
into  tigers,  would  make  common  cause  with   the  evil  genii,  and 
avenge  themselves  of  the  injustice  of  the  men.     As  soon  as  it  was 
dark,  the  grand  procession,  called  the   festival  of  the  new  fire, 
commenced.     The  priests  took  the  dresses  of  the  gods,  and  fol- 
lowed by  an  immense  crowd  of  people,  went  in  a  solemn  train  to 
ihe  mountain  of  Huzachthcatl,which  was  two  leagues  or  six  miles 


200  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIE8 

from  Mexico.  This  lugubrious  march  was  called  the  march  of" 
the  gods;  which  was  supposed  to  be  their  final  departure  from 
their  city,  and  possibly  never  to  return;  in  which  event,  the  end 
of  the  world  was  come.  When  the  procession  had  reached  the 
summit  of  the  mountain,  it  waited  till  the  moment  when  the  Plei- 
des,  or  the  sevenrstars,  ascended  the  middle  of  the  sky,  to  begin 
the  horrible  sacrifice  of  a  human  victim,  stretched  on  the  stone  of 
sacrifice,  having  a  wooden  disk  on  the  breast,  which  the  priest 
inflames  by  friction.  The  corpse,  after  having  received  a  wound 
in  the  breast,  which  extinguished  life,  while  he  was  held  on  the 
fatal  stone,  was  laid  on  the  ground;  and  the  instrument  made  use 
of  to  produce  fire  by  friction  was  placed  on  the  wound, which  had 
been  made  with  a  knife  of  obsidian  stone.  When  the  bits  of  wood, 
by  the  rapid  motion  of  the  cylinder,  or  machine  made  use  of  for 
that  purpose,  had  taken  fire,  an  enormous  pile,  previously  pre- 
pared to  receive  the  body  of  the  unfortunate  victim,  was  kindled, 
the  flames  of  which,  ascending  high  into  the  air,  were  seen  at  a 
great  distance;  when  the  vast  populace  of  the  city  of  Mexico  and 
surrounding  country  filled  the  air  with  joyful  shouts  and  acclama- 
mations.  All  such  as  were  not  able  to  join  in  the  procession  were 
stationed  on  the  terraces  of  houses,  and  on  the  tops  of  teocallis, 
or  mounds  and  tumulis,  with  their  eyes  fixed  on  the  spot  where 
the  flame  was  to  appear:  which,  as  soon  as  it  was  perceived,  was 
a  token  of  the  benevolence  of  the  gods,  and  of  the  preservation  of 
mankind  during  another  cycle  of  fifty-two  years.  Messengers 
posted  at  proper  distances  from  each  other,  holding  branches  of 
wood,  of  a  very  resinous  pine,  carried  the  new  fire  from  village 
to  village,  to  the  distance  of  many  leagues,  and  deposited  it  anew 
in  every  temple,  from  whence  it  was  distributed  to  all  private 
dwellings.  When  the  sun  appeared  on  the  horizon,  the  shouting 
was  redoubled,  the  procession  went  back  from  the  mountain  to 
the  city,  and  they  thought  they  could  see  their  gods  also  returning 
to  their  sanctuaries.  The  women  were  then  released  from  their 
prisons,  every  one  put  on  a  new  dress,  the  temples  were  white- 
washed, their  household  furniture  renewed,  their  plate,  and  what- 
ever was  necessary  for  domestic  use.  This  secular  festival,  this 
apprehension  of  the  sun  being  extinguished  at  the  epoch  of  the 
winter  solstice,  seems  to  present  a  new  instance  of  analogy  be- 
tween the  Mexicans  and  the  inhabitants  of  Egypt.     When  the- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  201 

Egyptians  saw  the  sun  descend  from  the  Crab  towards  Capricorn? 
and  the  days  gradually  grow  shorter,  they  were  accustomed  to 
sorrow,  from  the  apprehension  that  the  sun  was  going  to  abandon 
the  earth,  but  when  the  orb  began  to  return,  and  the  duration  of 
the  days  grew  longer,  they  robed  themselves  in  white  gar- 
ments, and  crowned  themselves  with  flowers."  (Humboldt,  p. 
380,   384.) 

This  Mexican^usage  may  have  been  practised  by  the  people  of 
the  west,  as  the  roads  would  seem  to  justify,  leading  as  they  do, 
either  to  some  mountain  prepared  by  art,  or  to  some  mound  :  and 
as  these  processions  took  place  in  the  night,  so  that  the  Pleiades, 
or  seven  stars,  might  be  seen,  it  was  necessary  that  the  roads 
should  be  walled  as  a  defence  against  an  enemy,  who  might  take 
advantage  under  cover  of  .the  night.  After  having  examined 
these  accounts  of  the  ancient  works  of  the  west,  it  is  natural  to 
ask,  who  their  authors  were  :  this  can  be  answered  only  by  com- 
parison and  conjecture,  more  or  less  upheld,  as  circumstances, 
features,  manners,  and  customs  of  the  nations,  many  resemble 
each  other.  "  If  we  look  into  the  Bible,  we  shall  there  learn, 
that  mankind,  soon  after  the  deluge,  undertook  to  raise  a  tower, 
high  as  heaven  or  the  clouds,  designed  to  keep  them  together. 
But  in  this  attempt  they  were  disappointed,  and  themselves  dis- 
persed throughout  the  world.  Did  they  forget  to  raise  afterwards 
similar  monuments  and  places  of  worship  1  They  did  not,  and 
to  use  the  words  of  an  inspired  writer,  "high  places,"  of  various 
altitudes  and  dimensions,  were  raised  on  every  high  hill  through- 
out the  land  of  Palestine,  and  all  the  east,  among  the  pagan  na- 
tions. Some  of  these  "  high  places"  belonged  to  single  families  ; 
some  to  mighty  chieftains,  a  petty  tribe,  a  city,  or  a  whole  nation. 
At  those  "■  high  places,"  belonging  to  great  nations,  great  nation- 
al affairs  were  transacted.  Here  they  crowned  and  deposed  their 
kings;  here  they  concluded  peace,  and  declared  war,  and  worship- 
ped their  gods.  The  Jews,  on  many  great  occasions,  assembled 
at  Gilgal  ;  which  word  signifies  "  an  heap."  Shiloh,  where  the 
Jews  frequently  assembled  to  transact  great  national  affairs,  and 
perform  acts  of  devotion,  was  on  the  top  of  a  high  hill.  When 
this  was  forsaken,  the  loftiest  hill  of  Zion  was  selected  in  its  steady 
upon  Sinai's  awful  summit  the  law  of  God  was  promulgated. 
Solomon's  temple  was  situated  upon   a  high  hill,  by  Divine  ap- 


302  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

pointment.  Samaria,  a  place  celebrated,  for  the  worship  of  idols, 
was  built  upon  the  high  hill  of  Shemer,  by  Omri,  one  of  the  kings 
of  Israel.  How  many  hundreds  of  mounds  in  this  country  are 
situated  on  the  highest  hills,  surrounded  by  the  most  fertile  soils  ? 
Traverse  the  counties  of  Licking,  Franklin,  Pickaway,  and  Ross; 
examine  the  loftiest  mounds,  and  compare  them  with  those  des- 
cribed in  Palestine,  and  a  conviction  will  remain,  that  as  in  the 
■earliest  ages,  men  preferred  the  summit  of  the  highest  mountains, 
as  a  love  of  the  same,  as  a  memorial  of  ancestry,  would  influence 
posterity  to  the  like  custom." — (Atwater. ) 

But  the  most  extraordinary  mound  we  have  heard  of,  is  men- 
tioned by  Schoolcraft,  Travels  in  the  West.  It  is  called  Mount 
Joliet,  and  is  situated  on  the  river  Des  Plains,  one  of  the  head  wa- 
ter rivers  of  the  Illinois.  Its  situation  is  such  as  to  give  to  its 
size  its  fullest  effect,  being  on  a  level  country  with  no  hill  in  sight 
to  form  a  contrast.  Its  height  is  sixty  feet,  nearly  four  rods  per- 
pendicular, its  length  eighty-four  rods,  its  width  fourteen,  and  is 
one  hundred  and  ninety-six  rods  in  circumference  on  its  top,  but 
•considerably  larger,  measuring  round  the  base.  It  has  been  re- 
marked by  Dr.  Beck,  that  this  is  probably  the  largest  mound  with- 
in the  limits  of  the  United  States.  This  mound  is  built  on  the  hor- 
izontal lime  stone  stratum  of  the  secondary  formation,  and  is 
fronted  by  the  beautiful  lake  Joliet,  which  is  but  fifteen  miles  long, 
furnishing  the  most  "  noble  and  picturesque  spot  in  all  Ameri- 
ca." (Schoolcraft.)  This  mound  consists  of  eighteen  million 
two  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  solid  feet  of  earth.  How  long 
it  took  to  build  it,  is  more  than  can  be  made  out,  as  the  number 
of  men  employed,  and  the  facilities  to  carry  on  the  work,  are  un- 
known. 

In  England,  Scotland,  and  in  Wales,  they  are  thus  situated.  At 
Inch  Tuthel,  on  the  river  Tay,  there  is  a  mound  which  resembles 
this  on  the  Licking,  near  Newark.  The  camp  at  Comerie  is  on 
a  water  of  Ruchel,  situated  on  a  high  alluvion,  like  that  in  the 
west.  The  antiquities  of  Ardoch  are  on  a  water  Kneck,  their 
walls,  ditches,  gateways,  mounds  of  defence  before  them,  and 
«very  thing  about  them,  resembling  our  works  of  this  character  in 
America. 

What  Pennant,  in  his  Antiquarian  Researches  in  the  north  of 
Europe,  calls  aprcetorium,  is  exactly  like  the  circular  works  round 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  203 

our  mounds,  when,  placed  within  walls  of  earth.  Catter-thun,  two 
miles  from  Angus,  is  ascribed  to  the  ancient  Caledonians  or 
Scotch.  Such  works  are  very  common  in  Ohio.  One  on  the 
river  Loden,  or  Lowthe,  and  another  near  the  river  Emet,  are  ex- 
actly like  those  in  the  west.  The  strong  resemblance  between  the 
works  in  Scotland  and  those  of  the  west,  I  think  says  Mr.  Atwa- 
ter,  no  man  will  deny.  In  various  parts  of  the  British  isles,  as 
well  as  England,  Scotland,  Ireland,  and  Wales,  are  abundance  of 
those  works,  which  were  places  of  worship,  burial,  and  defence, 
built  by  the  ancient  Picts,  so  called  by  the  Romans,  because  they 
painted  themselves,  like  the  aborigines  of  this  country.  At  a 
vGry  early  period  of  the  globe,  a  small  mound  of  earth  served  as 
a  sepulchre  and  an  altar,  wheron  the  officiating  priest  could  be 
seen  by  the  surrounding  worshippers.  Such  sacred  works  may 
be  traced  from  Wales  to  Russia,  quite  across  that  empire  north, 
to  our  continent ;  and  then  across  this  continent,  from  the  Co- 
lumbia on  the  Pacific  ocean,  to  the  Black  river,  on  the  east  end 
of  lake  Ontario  ;  thence  turning  in  a  southwestern  direction, 
we  find  them  extending  quite  to  the  southern  parts  of  Mexico  and 
Peru. 

"  If  there  exists,"  says  Dr.  Clarke,  "any  thing  of  former 
times  which  may  afford  evidence  of  autediluvian  manners,  it  is 
this  mode  of  burial  ;  which  seems  to  mark  the  progress  of  po- 
pulation in  the  first  ages  after  the  dispersion,  occasioned  by  the 
confusion  of  languages,  at  Babel.  Whether  under  the  form  of  a 
mound  in  Scandinavia  and  Russia,  a  barrow  in  England,  or  cairn 
in  Ireland,  Scotland  and  Wales,  or  heaps  of  earth,  which  the 
modern  Greeks  and  Turks  call  tepe,  and  the  Mexicans  tepee;  and 
lastly,  in  the  more  artificial  shape  of  a  pyramid,  in  Egypt  :  they 
had  universally  the  same  origin." 

Here  we  have  the  unequivocal  opinion  of  a  man  who  has  scarce- 
ly his  fellow,  respecting  a  knowledge  of  the  ancient  manners  of 
mankind  ;  who  says,  that  the  tumuli,  found  in  all  parts  of  the 
earth,  belong  solely  to  the  age  immediately  succeeding  Noah's 
flood  ;  which  greatly  favors  our  opinion,  that  this  country  was 
settled  as  early  as  the  other  parts  of  the  earth,  which  are  at  as 
great  a  distance  from  Mount  Ararat  and  Babylon. 

But  what  is  the  distance  from  Mount  Ararat  by  way  of  Bhering's 
strait,  to  the  middle  of  the  United    States,  which  is  the  region  of 


204  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

the  Missouri  ?  It  is  something  over  ten  thousand  miles  ;  nearly 
half  the  circuit  of  the  globe.  Here,  in  the  region  of  the  western 
states,  we  have,  by  the  aid  of  Baron  Humboldt,  supposed  the 
country  of  Aztalan  was  situated  ;  where  the  great  specimens  of 
labor  and  ancient  manners  are  most  abundant.  If  this  was  the 
way  the  first  people  came  into  America,  it  is  very  clear  they  could 
not,  in  the  ordinary  way  of  making  a  settlement  here  and  there, 
have  arrived  soon  enough  to  show  signs  of  as  great  antiquity,  in 
their  works  in  America,  as  those  of  the  same  sort  found  in  the 
north  of  Europe.  Some  other  way,  therefore,  we  are  confident, 
the  first  inhabitants  must  have  pursued,  so  that  their  works  in 
America  might  compare,  in  character  and  antiquity,  with  those 
of  other  nations.  From  Ararat,  in  a  westerly  course,  passing 
through  Europe,  by  way  of  the  countries  now  situated  in  Russia 
in  Europe,  to  the  Atlantic,  the  distance  is  scarcely  5000  miles  ; 
not  half  the  distance  the  route  of  Bhering's  strait  would  have 
been.  And  if  the  Egyptian  tradition  be  true  respecting  the  is- 
land Atalantis,  and  the  conjectures  of  naturalists  about  a  union 
of  Europe  and  America  on  the  north,  there  was  nothing  to  hinder 
their  settling  here,  immediately  after  their  dispersion. 

It  is  supposed  ihe  first  generations  immediately  succeeding  the 
flood,  were  much  more  enlightened  than  many  nations  since  that 
period  ;  the  reason  is,  they  had  not  yet  forgotten  that  which  they 
had  learned  of  the  manners  of  their  antediluvian  ancestors,  from 
Noah  :  but  as  they  spread  and  diverged  asunder;  what  thev  had 
learned  from  him  concerning  the  creation,  architecture,  and  the 
culture  of  the  earth  before  the  flood,  they  lost,  and  thus  retrograd- 
ed to  savagism. 

It  is  true,  the  family  of  Shem,  of  whom  were  Abraham,  Isaac, 
and  Jacob,  by  the  particular  Providence  of  God,  retained  unadul- 
terated, the  traditional  history  of  the  creation,  and  of  man,  till  the 
time  Moses  embodied  it  in  a  book,  857  years  after  the  flood.  But 
the  rest  of  the  nations  were  left,  in  this  respect,  to  mere  recollec- 
tions; which,  as  soon  as  they  divided  and  subdivided,  became  con- 
tradictory and  monstrous  in  their  accounts. 

But  the  authors  of  the  great  works  found  in  the  west,  seem  to 
have  retained  the  first  ideas  received  from  their  fathers  at  the  era 
of  the  building  of  Babel,  equally,  if  not  superior,  to  many  nations 
of  Europe,  as  they  were  in  the  year  S00  after  Christ.     This  is. 


',:  ;VHBI 


■*%m-~H 


AND  DISCOVERIES  IN    THE    WEST.  205 

consented  to  on  all  hands,  and  even  contended  for  by  the  histo- 
rian Humboldt.  In  order  to  show  the  reader  the  propriety  of 
believing  that  a  colony,  very  soon  after  the  confusion  of  the 
language  of  mankind,  found  their  way  to  what  is  now  called  Ame- 
rica, we  give  the  tradition  of  the  Azteca,  nation,  who  once  in- 
habited Aztalan,  the  country  of  the  western  states.,  but  were,  at 
the  era  of  the  conquest  of  South  America,  found  inhabiting  the 
vale  of  Mexico,  because  they  had,  as  we  have  shown,  been 
driven  away  by  the  irruptions  of  the  Tartarian  Indians,  as  fol- 
lows :  see  below. 


Traits  of  the  Mosaic  History  found  among  the  Azteca 
Nations. 

The  tradition  commences  with  an  account  of  the  deluge,  as 
they  had  preserved  it  in  books  made  of  the  buffalo  and  deer 
skin,  on  which  account  there  is  more  certainty  than  if  it  had 
been  preserved  by  mere  oral  tradition,  handed  down  from  father 
to  son. 

They  begin  by  painting,  or  as  we  would  say,  by  telling  us  that 
Noah,  whom  they  call  Tezpi,  saved  himself,  with  his  wife  whom 
they  call  Xochiquetzal,  on  a  raft  or  canoe.  Is  not  this  the  ark  ? 
The  raft  or  canoe  rested  on  or  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain,  which 
they  call  Colhuacan.  Is  not  this  Ararat  1  The  men  born  after 
this  deluge  were  born  dumb.  Is  not  this  the  confusion  of  language 
at  Babel  1  A  dove  from  the  top  of  a  tree  distributes  languages  to 
them  in  the  form  of  an  olive  leaf.  Is  not  this  the  dove  of  Noah, 
which  returned  with  that  leaf  in  her  mouth,  as  related  io  Genesis? 
They  say,  that  on  this  raft,  beside  Tezpi  and  his  wife,  were  seve- 
ral children,  and  animals,  with  grain,  the  preservation  of  which 
was  of  importance  to  mankind.  Is  not  this  in  almost  exact  ac- 
cordance with  what  was  saved  in  the  ark  with  Noah,  as  stated  in 
Genesis  ? 

When  the  Great  Spirit,  Tezcatlipoca,  ordered  the  waters  to 
withdraw,  Tezpi  sent  out  from  his  raft  avuliure,  which  never  re- 
turned, on  account  of  the  great  quantities  of  dead  carcasses  which 


206  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

it  found  to  feed  upon.  Is  not  this  the  raven  of  Noah,  which  did 
not  return  when  it  was  sent  out  the  second  time,  for  the  very  rea- 
son here  assigned  by  the  Mexicans  ?  Tezpi  sent  other  birds, one 
of  which  was  the  humming  bird  ;  this  bird  alone  returned,  hold- 
ing in  its  beak  a  branch  covered  with  leaves.  Is  not  this  the 
dove  I  Tezpi,  seeing  that  fresh  verdure  now  clothed  the  earth, 
quitted  his  raft  near  the  mountain  of  Colhuacan.  Is  not  this  an 
allusion  to  Ararat  of  Asia  ?  They  say  the  tongues  which  the 
dove  gave  to  mankind,  were  infinitely  varied  ;  which,  when  re- 
ceived, they  immediately  dispersed.  But  among  them  there  were 
fifteen  heads  or  chiefs  of  families,  which  were  permitted  to  speak 
the  same  language,  and  these  were  the  Taltecs,  the  Aculhu- 
cans,  and  Azteca  nations,  who  embodied  themselves  together, 
which  was  very  natural,  and  travelled,  they  knew  not  where,  but 
at  length  arrived  in  the  country  of  Aztalan,  or  the  lake  country 
in  America. 

The  plate  or  engraving  presented  here,  is  a  surprising  repre- 
sentation of  the  deluge  of  Noah,  and  of  the  confusion  of  the 
ancient  language,  at  the  building  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  as  related 
in  the  book  of  Genesis,  (see  chap.  vii.  and  xi.) 

We  have  derived  the  subject  of  this  plate  from  Baron  Humboldt's 
volume  of  Researches  in  Mexico,  who  found  it  painted  on  a  manu- 
script book,  made  of  the  [eaves  of  some  kind  of  tree,  suitable  for 
the  purpose,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancient  nations  of  the  sultry 
parts  of  Asia,  around  the  Mediterranean. 

Among  the  vast  multitude  of  painted  representations  found  by 
this  author,  on  the  books  of  the  natives,  made  also  frequently  of 
prepared  sinks  of  animals,  were  delineated  all  the  leading  circum- 
stances and  history  of  the  deluge,  of  the  fall  of  man,  and  of  the 
seduction  of  the  woman  by  the  means  of  the  serpent,  the  first 
murder  as  -perpetrated  by  Cain,  on  the  person  of  his  brother 
Abel. 

The  plate,  however,  here  presented,  shows  no  more  than  a 
picture  of  the  flood,  with  Noah  afloat  on  a  raft,  or  as  the  tradi- 
tions of  some  of  the  nations  say,  on  a  tree,  a  canoe,  and  some 
say  even  in  a  vessel  of  huge  dimensions.  It  also  shows,  by  the 
group  of  men  approaching  the  bird,  a  somewhat  obscure  history 
of  the  confusion  of  the  ancient  language,  at  the  building  of  Babel, 
by  representing  them  as  being  born  dumb,  who  receive  the  gift  of 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  20T 

speech  from  a  dove,  which  flutters  in  the  branches  of  the  tree , 
while  she  piesents  the  languages  to  the  mute  throng,  by  bestowing 
upon  each  individual  a  leaf  of  the  tree,  which  is  shown  in  the 
form  of  small  commas  suspended  from  its  beak. 

Among  the  different  nations,  according  to  Humboldt,  who  inha- 
bited Mexico,  were  found  paintings  which  represented  the  deluge,, 
or  the  flood  of  Tezpi.  The  same  person  among  the  Chinese  is 
called  Fold  and  Yu~ti,  which  is  strikingly  similar  in  sound  to  the 
Mexican  Tezpi,  in  which  they  show  how  he  saved  himself  and 
his  wife,  in  a  bark,  or  some  say,  in  a  canoe,  others,  on  a  raft, 
which  they  call,  in  their  language,  a  huahuate. 

The  painting,  of  which  the  plate  is  the  representation,  shows 
Tezpi,  or  Noah,  in  the  midst  of  the  waters,  lying  on  his  back. 
The  mountain,  the  summit  of  which  is  crowned  by  a  tree,  and 
rises  above  the  waters,  is  the  peak  of  Colhucan,  the  Ararat  of 
the  Mexicans.  At  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  on  each  side,  appear 
the  heads  of  Noah  and  his  wife.  The  woman  is  known  by  the 
two  points  extending  up  from  her  forehead,  which  is  the  univer- 
sal designation  of  the  female  sex  among  the  Mexicans.  The 
horn  at  the  left  hand  of  the  tree,  with  a  human  hand  pointing  to 
it,  is  the  character  representing  a  mountain,  and  the  head  of  a 
bird  placed  above  the  head  of  Tezpi  or  Noah,  shows  the  vulture 
which  the  Mexicans  say  Tezpi  sent  out  of  his  acallior  boat  to  see 
if  the  waters  had  subsided. 

In  the  figure  of  the  bird,  with  the  leaves  of  a  tree  in  its  beak, 
is  shown  the  circumstance  of  the  dove's  return  to  the  Ark,  when 
it  had  been  sent  out  the  second  time,  bringing  a  branch  of  the 
olive  in  its  mouth;  but  in  their  tradition  it  had  become  misplaced, 
and  is  made  the  author  of  the  languages.  That  birds  have  a 
language,  was  believed  by  the  nations  of  the  old  world.  Some  of 
those  nations  retain  a  surprising  traditional  account  of  the  deluge; 
who  say,  that  Noah  embarked  in  a  spacious  acalli  or  boat,  with 
his  wife,  his  children,  several  animals,  and  grain,  the  preserva- 
tion of  which  was  of  great  importance  to  mankind.  When  the 
Great  Spirit,  Tezcatlipoca,  ordered  the  waters  to  withdraw, 
Tezpi,  or  Noah,  sent  out  from  his  boat  a  vulture.  But  the  bird's 
natural  food  was  that  of  dead  carcasses,  it  did  not  return,  on  ac- 
count of  the  great  number  of  dead  carcasses  with  which  the  earth,, 
now  dried  in  some  places  abounded. 


"208  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Tezpi  sent  out  other  birds,  one  of  which  was  the  humming 
bird;  this  bird  alone  returned  again  to  the  boat,  holding  in  its  beak 
a  branch,  covered  with  leaves.  Tezpi  now  knowing  that  the 
earth  was  dry,  being  clothed  with  fresh  verdure,  quitted  his  bark 
near  the  mountain  Colhucan,  or  Ararat.  A  tradition  of  the  same 
fact,  the  deluge,  is  also  found  among  the  Indans  of  the  Northwest. 
I  received,  (says  a  late  travellar,)  the  following  account  from  a 
Chief  of  one  of  the  tribes,  in  his  own  words,  in  the  english: — 
"An  old  man,  live  great  while  ago,  he  wery  good  man,  he  have 
three  son.  The  Great  Spirit,  tell  him,  go  make  raft — build  wig- 
wam on  top:  for  he  make  it  rain  wery  much.  When,  this  done, 
Great  Spirit,  say,  put  in  two  of  all  the  creatures,  then  take  sun, 
moon — all  the  stars,  put  them  in — get  in  himself,  with  his  Equa, 
(wife)  children,  shut  door,  all  dark  outside.  Then  it  rain  much 
hard,  many  days.  When  they  stay  there  long  time — Great  Spirit 
say,  old  mar,  go  out.  So  he  take,*  diving  animal,  sa  goy  see  if 
find  the  earth:  so  he  went,  come  back,  not  find  any  thing.  Then 
he  wait  few  days — send  out  mushquash,  see  what  he  find.  When 
he  come  back,  brought  some  mud  in  he  paw;  old  man  wery  glad; 
he  tell  mushquash,  you  wery  good,  long  this  world  stand,  be 
plenty  mushquash,  no  man  ever  kill  you  all.  Then  few  days 
more,  he  take  wery  prety  bird,  send  him  out,  see  what  it  find;  that 
bird  no  come  back:  so  he  send  out  one  white  bird,  that  come 
back,  have  grass  in  he  mouth.  So  old  man  know  water  going- 
down.  The  Great  Spirit  say,  old  man,  let  sun,  moon,  stars  go 
out,  old  man  too.  He  go  out,  raft  on  much  big  mountain  when 
he  see  prety  bird,  he  send  out  first,  eating  dead  things — he  say, 
bird  you  do  no  right,  when  me  send,  you  no  come  back,  you 
must  be  black,  you  no  prety  bird  any  more — you  always  eat  bad 
things.     So  it  was  black." 

The  purity  of  those  traditions  is  evidence  of  two  things:  first, 
that  the  book  of  Genesis,  as  written  by  Moses,  is  not  as  some 
have  imagined,  a  cunningly  devised  fable,  as  these  Indians  cannot 
be  accused  of  Christian,  nor  of  Jewish  priestcraft,  their  religion 
being  of  another  cast.  And  second,  that  the  contents  of  America, 
Europe,  Africa,  and  Asia,  were  anciently  united,  so  that  the 
earlier  nations  came  directly  over  after  the  confusion  of  the 
ancient  language  and  dispersion — on  which  account  its  purity  has 
been  preserved  more  than  among  the  more  wandering  tribes  of 
.the  old  continents. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  209 

As  favoring  this  idea  of  their  (the  Mexicans)  coming  immedi- 
ately from  the  region  of  the  tower  of  Babel,  their  tradition  goes  on 
to  inform  us,  that  the  tongues  distributed  by  this  bird  were  infinitely 
various,  and  dispersed  over  the  earth;  but  that  it  so  happened 
that  fifteen  heads  of  families  were  permitted  to  speak  the  same 
language,  these  are  the  same  shown  on  the  plate.  These  travel- 
led till  they  came  to  a  country  which  they  called  Aztalan,  sup- 
posed to  be  in  the  regions  of  the  now  United  States,  according  to 
Humboldt.  The  word  Aztalan  signifies  in  their  language,  zvater, 
or  a  country  of  much  water.  Now,  no  country  on  the  earth  bet- 
ter suits  this  appellation  than  the  western  country,  on  account  of 
the  vast  number  of  lakes  found  there,  and  is  even,  by  us,  called 
the  lake  country. 

There  is  another  particular  in  this  group  of  naked,  dumb  hu- 
man beings,  worthy  of  notice,  which  is,  that  neither  their  coun- 
tenances nor  form  of  their  persons  agree  at  all  with  the  counte- 
nances or  formation  of  the  common  Indians;  they  suit  far  bet- 
ter to  the  face  of  the  ancient  Britons,  Greeks,  Romans,  Cartha- 
ginians and  Persians.  The  Persians  are  supposed  to  have  been 
the   progenitors  of  the  German   tribes. 

If  so,  it  is  evident,  that  the  Indians  are  not  the  first  people  who 
found  their  way  to  this  country.  Among  these  ancient  nations 
are  found  many  traditions  corresponding  to  the  accounts  given 
by  Moses,  respecting  the  creation,  the  fall  of  man  by  the 
means  of  a  serpent — the  murder  of  Abel  by  his  brother,  &c;  all 
of  which  are  denoted  in  their  paintings,  as  found  by  the  earlier 
travellers  among  them,  since  the  discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus,  and  carefully  copied  from  their  books  of  prepared 
hides,  which  may  be  called  parchment,  after  the  manner  of  the 
ancients  of  the  earliest  ages.  We  are  pleased  when  we  find  such 
evidence,  as  it  goes  to  the  establishment  of  the  truth,  of  the  his- 
torical parts  of  the  old  Testament,  evidence  so  far  removed  from 
the  sceptic's  charge  of  priestcraft  here  among  the  unsophis- 
cated  nations  of  the  woods  of  America. 

Clavigero,  in  his  history  of  Mexico,  says  that  among  the  Chiap- 
anese  Indians,  was  found  an  ancient  manuscript  in  the  language 
of  that  country,  made  by  the  Indians  themselves,  in  which  it  was 
said,  according  to  their  ancient  tradition,  that  a  certain  person, 
named  Votan,  was  present  at  that  great  building,  which  was  made 

14 


210  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIE6 

by  order  of  his  uncle,  in  order  to  mount  up  to  heaven;  that  then 
every  people  was  given  their  language,  and  that  Votan  himself  was 
charged  by  God  to  make  the  division  of  the  lands  of  Anahuac — 
so  Noah  divided  the  earth  among  his  sons.  Votan  may  have 
been  Noah,  or  a  grandson  of  his. 

Of  the  ancient  Indians  of  Cuba,  several  historians  of  America 
relate,  that  when  they  were  interrogated  by  the  Spaniards  concern- 
ing their  orign,  they  answered,  they  had  heard  from  their  ances- 
tors, that  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  and  all  things: 
that  an  old  man  having  foreseen  the  deluge  With  which  God  de- 
signed to  chastise  the  sins  of  men,  built  a  large  canoe  and  embark- 
ed in  it  with  his  family,  and  many  animals;  that  when  the  inun- 
dation ceased,  he  sent  out  a  raven,  which,  because  it  found  food 
suited  to  its  nature  to  feed  on,  never  returned  to  the  canoe;  that 
he  then  sent  out  a  pigeon,  which  soon  returned,  bearing  a  branch 
of  the  Hoba  tree,  a  certain  fruit  tree  of  America,  in  its  mouth; 
that  when  the  old  man  saw  the  earth  dry,  he  disembarked, 
and  having  made  himself  wine  of  the  wood  grape,  he  became  in- 
toxicated and  fell  asleep;  that  then  one  of  his  sons  made  ridicule 
of  his  nakedness,  and  that  another  son  piously  covered  him;  that, 
upon  waking,  he  blessed  the  latter  and  cursed  the  former. 
Lastly,  these  islanders  held  that  they  had  their  origin  from  the 
accursed  son,  and  therefore  went  almost  naked;  that  the  Span- 
iards, as  they  were  clothed,  descended  perhaps  from  the  other. 

Many  of  the  nations  of  America,  says  Clavigero,  have  the 
same  tradition,  agreeing  nearly  to  what  we  have  already  related. 
It  was  the  opinion  of  this  author,  that  the  nations  who  peopled 
the  Mexican  empire,  belonged  to  the  posterity  of  Naphtuhim — 
(the  same,  we  imagine,  with  Japheth;)  and  that  their  ancestors 
having  left  Egypt  not  hong  after  the  confusion  of  the  ancient 
language,  travelled  towards  America,  crossing  over  on  the  isth- 
mus, which  it  is  supposed  once  united  America  with  the  African 
continent,  but  since  has  been  beaten  down  by  the  operation  of  the 
waters  of  the  Atlantic  on  the  north,  and  Southern  ocean  on  the 
south,  or  by  the  operation  of  earthquakes. 

Now  we  consider  the  comparative  perfection  of  the  preserva- 
tion of  this  Bible  account,  as  an  evidence  that  the  people  among 
whom  it  was  found  must  have  settled  in  this  country  at  a  very 
early  period  of  time,  after  the  flood,  and  that  they  did  not  wander 
any  more,  but  peopled  the  continent,  cultivating  it,  building  towr.s 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WE6T.  211 

and  cities,  after  their  manner;  the  vestiges  of  which  are  so  abun- 
dant to  this  day;  and  on  this  account,  viz  ,  their  fixedness,  their 
traditionary  history  was  not  as  liable  to  become  lost,  as  it  would 
have  undoubtedly  been,  had  they  wandered,  as  many  other  na- 
tions of  the  old  world  have  done.  As  evidence  of  the  presence 
of  a  Hindoo  population  in  the  southern,  as  well  as  the  western 
parts  of  North  America;  we  bring  the  Mexican  traditions,  re- 
specting some  great  religious  teacher  who  once  came  among  them. 
These  say,  that  a  wonderful  personage,  whom  they  name  Quetzal- 
coatl,  appeared  among  them,  who  was  a  white  and  bearded  man. 
This  person  assumed  the  dignity  of  acting  as  a  priest  and  legis- 
lator, and  became  the  chief  of  a  religious  sect,  which  like  the 
Songasis.,  and  the  Boudhists  of  Hindostan,  inflicted  on  them- 
selves the  most  cruel  penances.  He  introduced  the  custom  of 
piercing  the  lips  and  ears,  and  lacerating  the  rest  of  the  body, 
with  the  prickles  of  the  agave  and  leaves,  the  thorns  of  the  cac- 
tus, and  of  putting  reeds  into  the  wounds,  in  order  that  the  blood 
might  be  seen  to  trickle  more  copiously.  In  all  this,  says  Hum- 
boldt, we  seem  to  behold  one  of  those  Rishi,  hermits  of  the  Gan- 
ges, whose  pious  austerity  is  celebrated  in  the  books  of  the  Hin- 
doos. Jewitt,  a  native  of  Boston,  who  lately  died  at  Hartford, 
Conn.,  was  some  few  years  since,  captured  with  the  crew  of  the 
vessel  in  which  he  had  sailed,  by  the  Nootka  Indians,  at  Nootka 
sound,  on  the  Pacific.  In  his  narrative  of  his  captivity  and  suf- 
ferings, he  states  that  those  Indians  had  a  religious  custom,  very 
similar  to  those  of  the  Hindoos,  now  in  use  about  the  temple  of 
Juggernaut,  in  India;  which  was  that  of  piercing  their  sides  with 
Jong  rods,  and  leaping  about  while  the  rods  were  in  the  wounds. 
Respecting  this  white  and  bearded  man,  much  is  said  in  their 
tradition,  recorded  in  their  books  of  skin,  and  among  other  things, 
that  after  a  long  stay  with  them  he  suddenly  left  them,  promising 
to  return  again,  in  a  short  time,  to  govern  them  and  renew  their 
happiness.  This  person  resembles,  very  strongly,  in  his  promise 
to  return  again,  the  behavior  of  Lycurgus,  the  Spartan  lawgiver, 
who,  on  his  departure  from  Lacedannon,  bound  all  the  citizens 
under  an  oath,  both  for  themselves  and  posterity,  that  they  would 
neither  violate  nor  abolish  his  laws  till  his  return;  and  soon  after, 
in  the  Isle  of  Crete,  he  put  himself  to  death,  so  that  his  return 
became  impossible. 


212  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

It  was  the  posterity  of  this  man  whom  the  unhappy  Montezuma 
thought  he  recognized  in  the  soldiers  of  Cortez,  the  Spanish  con- 
queror of  Mexico.  "  We  know,"  said  the  unhappy  monarch,  in 
his  first  interview  with  the  Spanish  general,  "  by  our  books,  that 
myself  and  those  who  inhabit  this  country,  are  not  natives  but 
strangers,  who  came  from  a  great  distance.  We  know,  also,  that 
the  chief  who  led  our  ancestors  hither,  returned  for  a  certain  time, 
to  his  primitive  country,  and  thence  came  back  to  seek  those  who 
were  here  established,  who  after  a  while,  returned  again,  alone. 
We  always  believed  that  his  descendants  would  one  day  come  to 
take  possession  of  this  country.  Since  you  arrive  from  that  re- 
gion where  the  sun  rises,'!  cannot  doubt  but  that  the  king  who 
sends  you  is  our  natural  master." 

Humboldt  says,  that  the  Azteca  tribes  left  their  country,  Azta- 
lan,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  544;  and  wandered  to  the  south  or 
southwest,  coming  at  last  to  the  vale  of  Mexico.  It  would  appear, 
from  this  view,  that  as  the  nations  of  Aztalan,  with  their  fellow 
nations,  left  vast  works,  and  a  vast  extent  of  country,  apparently 
in  a  state  of  cultivation,  with  cities  and  villages,  more  in  number 
than  three  thousand,  as  Breckenridge  supposed,  that  they  must, 
therefore,  have  settled  here  long  before  the  Christian  era. 

The  peculiar  doctrines  of  the  Hindoos,  we  are  informed,  were 
commenced  to  be  taught  in  the  east,  among  what  is  now  called  the 
Hindoo  nations,  by  Zoroaster,  about  the  time  of  Solomon,  500 
years  before  the  time  of  Confucius,  who  was  born  551  b.  c.  So 
that  there  was  time  for  those  doctrines  of  Confucius  and  Zoro- 
aster to  take  root  in  China,  and  to  become  popular,  and  also  to 
reach  America,  by  Hindoo  missionaries,  and  overspread  these 
regions  long  before   the   commencement   of  the   Christian  era. 

Of  Zoroaster,  it  is  said,  that  he  wrote  of  the  coming  of  the 
Messiah  in  plain  words;  and  that  the  "  wise  men"  of  the  east,  who 
saw  his  star,  were  of  his  disciples,  or  sect.  This  doctrine  he  must 
have  learned  of  the  Jews  whose  books  and  theology  had,  when 
Zoroaster  flourished,  gone  far  among  many  nations  from  which 
they  borrowed  many  things.  But  the  peculiar  doctrine  of  Con- 
fucius, which  was  the  worship  of  fire  as  well  as  that  of  the  sun, 
by  Zoroaster,  it  is  likely,  was  derived  from  the  account  he  found 
among  the  archie ves  of  the  Jews,  respecting  the  burning  bush  of 
Moses,  which  had  taken  place  more  than  a  thousand  years  before 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  213 

the  time  of  Confucius.  From  this  originated,  in  all  probability, 
as  taught  by  Confucius,  the  burning  of  heroes,  when  dead,  among 
many  nations;  and  from  this,  that  of  immolating  widows,  as 
among  the  Hindoos,  on  the  funeral  pile,  taught  by  the  Brahmin 
missoinaries,  who,  undoubtedly,  visited  America,  and  planted 
their  belief  among  these  nations;  the  tokens  of  which  appear  so 
abundantly  in  the  mounds  and  tumuli  of  the  west. 

And  this  Quetzalcotl,  a  celebrated  minister  of  those  opinions,  ap- 
pears to  have  been  the  first  who  announced  the  religion  of  the  east 
among  the  people  of  the  west.  There  was  also  one  other  minister, 
or  Brahmin, who  appeared  among  the  Mozca  tribes  in  South  Ame- 
rica, whom  they  named  Bochica.  This  personage  taught  the  wor- 
ship of  the  sun;  and  if  we  were  to  judge,  should  pronounce  him  a 
missionary  of  the  Confucian  system,  a  worshipper  of  fire,  which 
was  the  religion  of  the  ancient  Persians,  of  whose  country  Confu- 
cius was  a  native.  This  also  is  evidence  that  the  first  inhabitants 
of  America  came  here  al  a  period  near  the  flood,  long  before  that 
worship  was  known,  or  they  would  have  had  a  knowledge  of  this 
Persian  worship,  which  was  introduced  by  Bochica  among  the 
American  nations,  which,  it  seems,  they  had  not,  until  taught  by 
this  man. 

Bochica,  it  appears,  became  a  legislator  among  those  nations, 
and  changed  the  form  of  their  goveroment  to  a  form,  the  con- 
struction of  which,  says  Baron  Humholdt,  bears  a  strong  analogy 
to  the  governments  of  Japan  and  Thibet,  on  account  of  the  pon- 
tiffs holding  in  their  hands  both  the  secular  and  the  spiritual 
reins.  In  Japan,  an  island  on  the  east  of  Asia,  or  rather  many 
islands,  which  compose  the  Japanese  empire,  is  found  a  religious 
sect,  styled  Sinto,  who  do  not  believe  in  the  sanguinary  rites 
of  shedding  cither  human  blood,  or  that  of  animals,  to  propitiate 
their  gods;  they  even  abstain  from  animal  food,  and  detest  blood- 
shed, and  will  not  touch  any  dead  body. — (Morses  Geography, 
p.  523.) 

There  is  in  South  America  a  whole  nation  who  eat  nothing  but 
vegetables,  and  who  hold  in  abhorrence  those  who  feed  on  flesh. 
—(Humboldt,  p.  200.) 

Such  a  coincidence  in  the  religion  of  nations  can  scarcely  be 
supposed  to  exist,  unless  they  are  of  one  origin.  Therefore,  from 
what  we  have  related  above,  and  a  few  pages  back,  it  is  clear, 


214  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

both  from  the  tradition  of  the  Aztekas,  who  lived  in  the  western 
regions  before  they  went  to  the  south,  and  from  the  fact  that  na- 
tions on  the  Asiatic  side  of  Bhering's  strait  having  come  annu- 
ally over  the  strait  to  fight  the  nations  of  the  northwest,  that  we, 
in  this  way,  have  given  conclusive  and  satisfactory  reasons  why, 
in  the  western  mounds  and  tumuli,  are  found  evident  tokens  of 
the  presence  of  a  Hindoo  population  ;  or,  at  least,  of  nations 
influenced  by  the  superstitions  of  that  people,  through  the  means 
of  missionaries  of  those  casts,  and  that  they  did  not  bring  those 
opinions  and  ceremonies  with  them,  when  they  first  left  Asia, 
after  the  confusion  of  the  antediluvian  language,  as  led  on  by 
their  fifteen  chiefs  ;  till,  by  some  means,  and  at  some  period, 
they  finally  found  this  country — not  by  the  way  of  Bhering's  strait, 
but  some  nearer  course,  as  we  have  conjectured  in  other  places  in 
this  work. 

Perhaps  a  few  words  on  the  supposed  native  country  of 
Quetzalcotl  may  be  allowed ;  who,  as  we  have  stated,  is  reported 
to  have  been  a  white  and  bearded  man,  by  the  Mexican  Aztekas. 
There  is  a  vast  range  of  islands  on  the  northeast  of  Asia,  in  the 
Pacific,  situated  not  very  far  from  Bhering's  strait,  in  latitude 
between  forty  and  fifty  degrees  north.  The  inhabitants  of  these 
islands,  when  first  discovered,  were  found  to  be  far  in  advance 
in  the  arts  and  civilization,  and  a  knowledge  of  government,  of 
their  continental  neighbors,  the  Chinese  and  Tartars.  The 
island  of  Jesso,  in  particular,  is  of  itself  an  empire,  compara- 
tively, being  very  populous,  and  are  also  highly  polished  in  their 
manners.  The  inhabitants  may  be  denominated  white — their 
women  especially,  whom  Morse,  in  his  geography  of  the  Japan, 
Jesso,  and  others  in  that  range,  says  expressly  are  white,  fair  and 
ruddy.  Humboldt  says  they  are  a  bearded  race  of  men,  like  Eu- 
ropeans. 

It  appears  the  ancient  government  of  these  islands,  especially 
that  of  Japan,  which  is  neighbor  to  that  of  Jesso, was  in  the  hands 
of  spiritual  monarchs  and  pontiffs,  till  the  seventeenth  century. 
As  this  was  the  form  of  government  introduced  by  Quetzalcotl, 
when  he  first  appeared  among  the  Azteka  tribes,  which  we  sup- 
pose was  in  the  country  of  Aztalan,  or  western  States,  may  it  not 
be  conjectured  that  he  was  a  native  of  some  of  those  islands,  who 
in  his  wanderings  had  found  his  way  hither,  on  errands  of  bene- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  215 

volence;  as  it  is  said  in  the  tradition  respecting  him,  that  he 
preached  peace  among  men,  and  would  not  allow  any  other  offer- 
ing to  the  divinity  than  the  first  fruits  of  the  harvest,  which  doc- 
trine was  in  character  with  the  mild  and  amiable  manners  of  the 
inhabitants  of  those  islands.  And  that  peculiar  and  striking  re- 
cord, found  painted  on  the  Mexican  skin-books,  which  describes 
him  to  have  been  a  white  and  bearded  man,  is  our  other  reason  for 
supposing  him  to  have  been  a  native  of  some  of  these  islands,  and 
most  probably  Jesso,  rather  than  any  other  country. 

The  inhabitants  of  these  islands  originated  from  China,  and  with 
them  undoubtedly  carried  the  Persian  doctrines  of  the  worship  of 
the  sun  and  fire;  consequently,  we  find  it  taught  to  the  people  of 
Aztalan  and  Mexico,  by  such  as  visited  them  from  China,  or  the 
islands  above  named;  as  it  is  clear  the  sun  was  not  the  original 
object  of  adoration  in  Mexico,  but  rather  the  power  which  made 
the  sun.     So  Noah  worshipped. 

Their  traditions  also  recognize  another  important  chief,  who  led 
the  Azteka  tribes  first  to  the  country  of  Aztalan,  long  before  the 
appearance  of  Quetzalcotl,  or  Bochica,  among  them.  This  great 
leader  they  name  Tecpaltzin,  and  doubtless  allude  to  the  time 
when  they  first  found  their  way  to  America,  and  settled  in  the 
western  region. 


A  Description  of  the  Ceremonies  of  Fire- Worship,  as  prac- 
tised by  certain  Tribes  on  the  Arkansas. 

Mr.  Ash  witnessed  an  exhibition  of  fire-worship,  or  the  worship 
of  the  sun,  as  performed  by  a  whole  tribe  at  the  village  of  Ozark, 
near  the  mouth  of  the  Ozark,  or  Arkansas  river,  which  empties 
into  the  Mississippi  from  the  west. 

He  says  he  arrived  at  the  village  at  a  very  fortunate  period;  at 
a  time  when  it  was  filled  with  Indians,  and  surrounded  with  their 
camp.  They  amounted  to  about  900,  and  were  composed  of  the 
-remnants  of  various  nations,  and  were   worshippers  of  the  sun. 


216  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

The  second  day  after  his  arrival  happened  to  be  the  grand' 
festival  among  them.  He  had  the  most  favorable  opportunity  of 
witnessing  their  adorations  at  three  remarkable  stages — the  sun's 
rising,  meridian  and  setting. 

The  morning  was  propitious,  the  air  serene,  the  horizon  clear, 
the  weather  calm.  The  nations  divided  into  classes;  warriors,, 
young  men  and  women,  and  married  men  with  their  children. 
Each  class  stood  in  the  form  of  a  quadrant,  that  each  individual 
might  behold  the  rising  luminary,  and  each  class  held  up  a  particu- 
lar offering  to  the  sun  the  instant  he  rose  in  his  glory.  The  war- 
riors presented  their  arms,  the  young  men  and  women  offered  ears 
of  corn  and  branches  of  trees,  and  married  women  held  up  to  his 
light  their  infant  children.  These  acts  were  performed  in  silence, 
till  the  object  of  their  adoration  visibly  rose;  when,  with  one  im- 
pulse, the  nations  burst  into  praise,  and  sung  a  hymn  in  loud  cho- 
rus. The  lines,  which  were  sung  with  repetitions,  and  marked 
by  pauses,  were  full  of  sublimity  and  judgment.  Their  meaning, 
when  interpreted,  is  as  follows  : 

"  Great  Spirit !  master  of  our  lives.  Great  Spirit !  master  of 
things  visible  and  invisible,  and  who  daily  makes  them  visible  and 
invisible.  Great  Spirit !  master  of  every  other  spirit,  good  or  bad; 
command  the  good  to  be  favorable  to  us,  and  deter  the  bad  from 
the  commission  of  evil.  O  Grand  Spirit !  preserve  the  strength 
and  courage  of  our  warriors,  and  augment  their  number,  that 
they  may  resist  the  oppression  of  the  Spanish  enemies,  and  re- 
cover the  country,  and  the  rights  of  our  fathers.  O  Grand  Spirit! 
preserve  the  lives  of  such  of  our  old  men  as  are  inclined  to  give 
counsel  and  example  to  the  young.  Preserve  our  children,  multi- 
ply their  number,  and  let  them  be  the  comfort  and  support  of  de- 
clining age.  Preserve  our  corn  and  our  animals,  and  let  no  fa- 
mine desolate  the  land.  Protect  our  villages,  guard  our  lives.  O 
Great  Spirit !  when  you  hide  your  light  behind  the  western  hills, 
protect  us  from  the  Spaniards,  who  violate  the  night,  and  do  evil 
which  they  dare  not  commit  in  the  presence  of  your  beams.  Good 
Spirit !  make  known  to  us  your  pleasure,  by  sending  to  us  the 
Spirit  of  Dreams.  Let  the  Spirit  of  Dreams  proclaim  your  will 
in  the  night,  and  we  will  perform  it  through  the  day;  and  if  it- 
say  the  time  of  some  be  closed,  send  them,  Master  of  Life  !  tc- 
the  great  country  of  souls,  where  they  may  meet  their  fathers, 


AND  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  217 

mothers,  children  and  wives,  and  where  you  are  pleased  to  shine 
upon  them  with  a  bright,  warm  and  perpetual  blaze  !  O  Grand ! 
O  Great  Spirit!  hearken  to  the  voice  of  nations,  hearken  to  all  thy 
children,  and  remember  us  always,  for  we  are  descended  from 
thee." 

Immediately  after  this  address,  the  four  quadrants  formed  one 
immense  circle,  of  several  deep,  and  danced  and  sung  hymns  de- 
scriptive of  the  power  of  the  sun,  till  near  ten  o'clock.  They 
then  amused  and  refreshed  themselves  in  the  village  and  camp, 
but  assembled  precisely  at  the  hour  of  twelve,  and  formed  a 
number  of  circles,  commenced  the  adoration  of  the  meridian 
sun.  The  following  is  the  literal  translation  of  the  mid-day  ad- 
dress: 

"Courage,  nations  !  courage  !  the  Great  Spirit  looks  down  upon 
us  from  his  highest  seat,  and  by  his  lustre  appears  content  with 
the  children  of  his  own  power  and  greatness.  Grand  Spirit !  how 
great  are  his  works,  and  how  beautiful  are  they  !  How  good  is 
the  Great  Spirit !  He  rides  high  to  behold  us.  'Tis  he  who  causes 
all  things  to  augment  and  to  act.  He  even  now  stands  for  a  mo- 
ment to  hearken  to  us.  Courage,  nations  !  courage  !  The  Great 
Spirit,  now  above  our  heads,  will  make  us  vanquish  our  enemies; 
he  will  cover  our  fields  with  corn,  and  increase  the  animals  of  our 
woods.  He  will  see  that  the  old  be  made  happy,  and  that  the 
young  augment.  He  will  make  the  nations  prosper,  make  them 
rejoice,  and  make  them  put  up  their  voice  to  him,  while  he  rises 
and  sets  in  their  land,  and  while  his  heat  and  light  can  thus  glori- 
ously shine  out." 

This  was  followed  by  dancing  and  hymns,  which  continued 
from  two  to  three  hours;  at  the  conclusion  of  which,  dinners  were 
served  and  eaten  with  great  demonstrations  of  mirth  and  hilarity, 
Mr.  A.sh  says  he  dined  in  a  circle  of  chiefs,  on  a  barbecued  hog> 
and  venison  very  well  stewed,  and  was  perfectly  pleased  with  the 
repast.  The  dinner  and  repose  after  it  continued  till  the  sun  was 
on  the  point  of  setting.  On  this  being  announced  by  several  Who 
had  been  on  the  watch,  the  nations  assembled  in  haste,  and 
formed  themselves  into  segments  of  circles  in  the  face  of  the  sun, 
presenting  their  offerings  during  the  time  of  his  descent,  and  cry- 
ing aloud: 

"  The  nations  must  prosper  ;  they  have  been  beheld  by  the 


•218  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Great  Spirit.  What  more  can  they  want  1  Is  not  that  happi- 
ness enough  ?  See  !  he  retires,  great  and  content,  after  having 
visited  his  children  with  light  and  universal  good.  O  Grand 
Spirit !  sleep  not  long  in  the  gloomy  west,  but  return  and  call 
your  people  once  again  to  light  and  life,  to  light  and  life,  to  light 
and  life." 

This  was  succeeded  by  dances  and  songs  of  praise,  till  eleven 
o'clock  at  night;  at  which  hour  they  repaired  to  rest,  some  retir- 
ing to  the  huts  that  formed  their  camp,  and  others  to  the  vicinity 
of  fires  made  in  the  woods,  and  along  the  river  bank.  Mr.  Ash 
took  up  his  abode  with  a  French  settler  in  the  village.  He  un- 
derstood that  these  Indians  have  four  similar  festivals  in  the 
year — one  for  every  season.  When  the  sun  does  not  shine  or 
appear  on  the  adoration  days,  an  immense  fire  is  erected,  around 
which  the  ceremonies  are  performed  with  equal  devotion  and 
care. 


Origin  of  Fire-Worship . 

For  many  ages  the  false  religions  of  the  east  had  remained 
stationary;  but  in  this  period,  magianism  received  considerable 
strength  from  the  writings  of  Zoroaster.  He  was  a  native  of  Me- 
dia. He  pretended  to  a  visit  in  heaven,  where  God  spoke  to  him 
out  of  a  fire.  This  fire  he  pretended  to  bring  with  him  on  his 
return.  It  was  considered  holy — the  dwelling  of  God.  The 
priests  were  forever  to  keep  it,  and  the  people  were  to  worship 
before  it.  He  caused  fire  temples  every  where  to  be  erected,  that 
storms  and  tempests  might  not  extinguish  it.  As  he  considered 
God  as  dwelling  in  the  fire,  he  made  the  sun  to  be  his  chief  resi- 
dence, and  therefore  the  primary  object  of  worship.  He  aban- 
doned the  old  system  of  two  gods,  one  good  and  the  other  evil,  and 
taught  the  existence  one  Supreme,  who  had  under  him  a  good  and 
evil  angel — the  immediate  authors  of  good  and  evil.  To  gain 
reputation,  he  retired  into  a  cave,  and  there  lived  a  long  time  a 
recluse,  and  composed  a  book  called  the  Zend-Avesta,  which  con- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  219 

tains  the  liturgy  to  be  used  in  the  fire  temples,  and  the  chief  doc- 
trines of  his  religion.  His  success  in  propagating  his  system  was 
astonishingly  great.  Almost  all  the  eastern  world,  for  a  season, 
bowed  before  him.  He  is  said  to  have  been  slain,  with  eighty  of 
his  priests,  by  a  Scythian  prince,  whom  he  attempted  to  convert 
to  his  religion. 

It  is  manifest  that  he  derived  his  whole  system  of  God's  dwell- 
ing in  the  fire,  from  the  burning  bush,  out  of  which  God  spake  to 
Moses.  He  was  well  acquainted  with  the  Jewish  Scriptures.  He 
gave  the  same  history  of  the  creation  and  deluge  that  Moses  had 
given,  and  inserted  a  great  part  of  the  Psalms  of  David  into  his 
writings.  The  Mehestani,  his  followers,  believed  in  the  immor- 
tality of  the  soul,  in  future  rewards  and  punishments,  and  in  the 
purification  of  the  body  by  fire;  after  which  they  would  be  united 
to  the  good. — (Marsh's  Ecclesiastical  History,  p.  78.)  From  the 
same  origin,  that  of  the  burning  bush,  it  is  altogether  probable  the 
worship  of  fire,  for  many  ages,  obtained  over  the  whole  habitable 
earth;  and  is  still  to  be  traced  in  the  funeral  piles  of  the  Hindoos, 
the  beacon  fires  of  the  Scotch  and  Irish,  the  periodical  midnight 
fires  of  the  Mexicans,  and  the  council  fires  of  the  North  Ameri- 
can Indians,  around  which  they  dance. 

A  custom  among  the  natives  of  New  Mexico,  as  related  by 
Baron  Humboldt,  is  exactly  imitated  by  a  practice  found  still  in 
some  parts  of  Ireland,  among  the  descendants  of  the  ancient 
Irish. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  month  of  November,  the  great  fire 
of  Sumhuin  is  lit  up,  all  the  culinary  fires  in  the  kingdom  being 
first  extinguished,  as  it  was  deemed  sacrilege  to  awaken  the  win- 
ter's social  flame  except  by  a  spark  snatched  from  this  sacred  fire; 
on  which  account  the  month  of  November  is  called,  in  the  Irish 
language,  Samhuin. 

To  this  day,  the  inferior  Irish  look  upon  bonfires  as  sacred ; 
they  say  their  prayers, walking  round  them,  the  young  dream  upon 
their  ashes,  and  the  old  take  this  fire  to  light  up  their  domestic 
hearths,  imagining  some  secret  undefinable  excellence  connected 
with  it. 


220  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 


A  Further  Account  of  Western  Antiquities. 

"  I  have  a  brick,"  says  Mr.  Atwater,  "  now  before  me,  over 
which  lay,  when  found,  wood,  ashes,  charcoal  and  human  bones, 
burnt  in  a  large  and  hot  fire;  and  from  what  was  found  at  Circle- 
ville,  in  the  mound  already  described,  it  would  seem  that  females 
were  sometimes  burnt  with  the  males.  I  need  not  say  that  this 
custom  was  derived  from  Asia,  as  it  is  well  known  that  is  the  only 
country  to  look  to  for  the  origin  of  such  a  custom.  The  Greeks 
and  Romans  practised  burning  their  illustrious  dead;  it  was  prac- 
tised by  several  other  nations  ;  but  they  all  derived  it  from 
Asia." 

In  Dr.  Clarke's  volume  of  Travels  from  St.  Petersburgh  to  the 
Crimea,  in  the  year  1800,  and  his  Travels  in  Russia,  Tartary 
and  Turkey,  it  is  said  conical  mounds  of  earth,  or  tumuli,  occur 
very  frequently.  The  most  remarkable  may  be  seen  between  Ye- 
zolbisky  and  Voldai,  on  both  sides  of  the  road,  and  they  continue 
over  the  whole  country  from  the  latter  place  to  Jedrova,and  finally, 
over  the  whole  Russian  empire.  The  author  of  the  travels  above 
alluded  to,  says,  "  There  are  few  finer  prospects  than  that  of  Wo- 
ronetz,  viewed  a  few  miles  from  the  town  on  the  road  to  Pautoosky. 
Throughout  the  whole  of  this  country  are  seen,  dispersed  over  im- 
mense plains,  mounds  of  earth,  covered  with  fine  turf,  the  sepul- 
chres of  the  ancient  world,  common  to  almost  every  habitable 
country." 

This  country,  (Russia  in  Europe)  from  Petersburgh  to  the  Cri- 
mea, a  seaport  on  the  Black  sea,  the  region  over  which  Adam 
Clarke  travelled,  is  in  the  neighborhood  of  Mount  Ararat;  and, 
from  the  circumstance  of  the  likeness  existing  between  the  mounds 
and  tumuli  there,  which  Clarke  says  are  the  "  tombs  of  the  an- 
cient world,"  and  those  of  the  same  character,  North  and  South 
America,  we  draw  the  conclusion  that  they  belong  nearly  to  one 
and  the  same  era  of  time,  viz:  that  immediately  succeeding  the 
confusion  of  language,  at  the  building  of  Babel.  We  are  told  in 
the  same  volume  of  travels,  that  tl  the  Cossacks  at  Ekaterindara, 
dug  into  some  of  these  mounds  for  the  purpose  of  making  cellars, 
and  found  in  them  several  ancient  vases,"   earthen  vessels,  cor- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  221 

responding  exactly  with  the  vases  found  in  the  western  mounds. 
Several  have  been  found  in  our  mounds  which  resemble  one  found 
in  Scotland,  described  by  Pennant  A  vessel  apparently  made  of 
clay  and  shells,  resembling  in  its  form  a  small  keg,  with  a  spout 
on  one  side  of  it,  formed  like  the  spout  of  a  tea-kettle, with  a  chain 
fastened  to  each  end,  made  probably  of  copper,  of  which  Mr.  At- 
water  has  not  informed  us.  This  chain  answered  as  a  bail  or 
handle:  exactly  on  its  top,  or  side,  under  the  range  of  the  chain 
handle,  is  an  opening  of  an  exact  circle,  which  is  the  mouth  of 
this  ancient  tea-kettle. — (See  plate,  letter  A.) 

In  the  Russian  tumuli,  are  found  the  bones  of  various  animals, 
as  well  as  those  of  men.  In  the  western  tumuli  are  found  also, 
the  bones  of  men,  as  well  as  the  teeth  of  bears,  otters,  and 
beavers. 

Thus  we  learn,  from  the  most  authentic  sources,  that  these  an- 
cient works  existing  in  Europe,  Asia,  Africa  and  America,  are 
similar  in  their  construction,  in  the  materials  with  which  they 
were  raised,  and  in  the  articles  found  in  them.  Let  those  who  are 
constantly  seeking  occasion  to  overthrow  the  history  of  man,  by 
Moses,  consider  this  fact.  Such  persons  have  affected  to  believe 
that  there  were  different  stocks,  or  races  of  men,  derived  from 
different  original  fathers  ;  and  in  this  way,  they  account  for  the 
appearance  of  human  beings  found  on  islands.  But  this  similarity 
of  works,  language,  and  of  tradition,  relating  to  the  most  ancient 
history  of  man,  indicates — nay,  more,  establishes  the  fact,  that  all 
men  sprung  from  but  one  origin,  one  first  man  and  woman,  as  Mo- 
ses has  it  in  the  book  of  Genesis. 

Some  have  supposed  that  all  the  great  works  of  the  west,  of 
which  we  have  been  treating,  belong  to  our  present  race  of  In- 
dians, but  from  continued  wars  with  each  other,  have  driven  them- 
selves from  agricultural  pursuits,  and  thinned  away  their  numbers 
to  that  degree,  that  the  wild  animals,  and  fishes  of  the  rivers,  and 
wild  fruit  of  the  forests,  were  found  sufficient  to  give  them  sup- 
port; on  which  account,  they  were  reduced  to  savagism.  But 
this  is  answered  by  the  Antiquarian  Society,  as  follows:  "  Have 
our  present  race  of  Indians  ever  buried  their  dead  in  mounds  by 
thousands'?  Were  they  acquainted  with  the  use  of  silver  or  cop- 
per? These  metals  curiously  wrought  have  been  found.  Did  the 
ancients  of  our  Indians  burn  the  bodies  of  distinguished  chiefs  on 


222  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

funeral  piles,  and  then  raise  a  lofty  tumulus,  over  the  urn  con- 
taining their  ashes  ?  Did  the  Indians  erect  any  thing  like  the 
"  walled  towns"  on  Paint  creek  ?  Did  they  ever  dig  such  wells 
as  are  found  at  Marietta,  Portsmouth,  and  above  all,  such  as  those 
in  and  near  Paint  creek  ?  Did  they  manufacture  vesssels  from 
calcareous  breccia,  equal  to  any  now  made  in  Italy?  Did  they 
ever  make  and  worship  an  idol  representing  the  three  principal 
gods  of  India,  called  the  triune  cup? — (See  plate,  letter  E.)  To 
this  we  respond,  they  never  have — no,  not  even  their  traditions 
afford  a  glimpse  of  the  existence  of  such  things  as  forts,,  tu- 
muli, roads,  wells,  mounds,  walls  enclosing  between  one  and  two 
hundred,  and  even  five  hundred  acres  of  land, — some  of  them  of 
stone,  and  others  of  earth,  twenty  feet  in  thickness,  and  exceed- 
ingly high,  and  are  works  requiring  too  much  labor  for  Indians  to 
have  performed. 

The  skeletons  found  in  our  mounds  never  belonged  to  a  people 
like  our  Indians.  The  latter  are  a  tall,  slender,  straight-limbed 
people;  but  those  found  in  the  barrows  and  tumuli  were  rarely 
over  five  feet  high,  though  a  few  were  more.  Their  foreheads 
were  low,  cheek  bones  rather  high,  their  faces  were  very  short 
and  wide,  their  eyes  large,  and  their  chins  very  broad.  But  Morse 
the  geographer  says,  page  629,  that  the  Tartars  have  small  eyes, 
and  not  of  the  oblique  form  like  the  Mongtals  and  Chinese,  neither 
of  which  seem  to  correspond  with  the  large  eyed  race  who  built 
the  mounds  and  tumuli  of  the  west;  on  which  account  we  the  more 
freely  look  to  a  higher  and  more  ancient  origin  for  these  people. 
The  Indians  of  North  America,  in  features,  complexion  and  form 
and  warlike  habits,  suit  far  better  the  Tartaric  character,  than  the 
skeletons  found  in  the  mounds  of  the  west.  The  limbs  of  our  fos- 
sils are  short  and  thick,  resembling  the  Germans  more  than  any 
other  Europeans  with  whom  we  are  acquainted.  Germany  is 
situated  east  of  England,,  and.  parts  of  it  lie  along  the  coast  of  the 
Atlantic,  or  the  North  sea,  in  north  latitude  53  degrees.  From 
whence  voyagers  may  have  passed  out  between  the  north  end  of 
Scotland  and  the  south  extremity  of  old  Norway,  by  the  Shetland 
and  Faroe  islands,  directly  in  the  course  of  Iceland,  Greenland 
and  the  Labrador  coast  of  America.  This  is  as  possible  for  the 
Germans  to  have  performed,  as  for  the  Norwegians,  Danes  and 
Welch,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1000,  as  shown  in  another  part  of 


AND  DISCOVERIES  IN    THE    WEST.  22$ 

this  work.  White  Indians,  as  found  far  to  the  west,  must  have  had 
a  white  origin. 

An  idol  found  in  a  tumulus  near  Nashville,  Tenn.,  (see  plate, 
letter  B.)  and  now  in  the  museum  of  Mr.  Clilford,  of  Lexington, 
is  made  of  clay,  peculiar  for  its  fineness.  With  this  clay  was 
mixed  a  small  portion  of  gypsum,  or  plaster  of  Paris.  This  idol 
was  made  to  represent  a  man,  in  a  state  of  nudity  or  nakedness, 
whose  arms  had  been  cut  off  close  to  the  body,  and  whose  nose 
and  chin  have  been  mutilated, with  a  fillet  and  cake  upon  its  head. 
In  all  these  respects,  as  well  as  in  the  peculiar  manner  of  plating 
the  hair,  it  is  exactly  such  an  idol  as  professor  Pallas  found,  in 
his  travels  in  the  southern  part  of  the  Russian  empire.  A  cus- 
tom among  the  ancient  Greeks  may  have  given  rise  to  the  forma- 
tion of  such  an  idol,  which  was  copied  by  the  Asiatic  ancestors 
of  the  people  who  brought  it  with  them  from  Asia  to  the  woods 
of  America.  This  custom  was — when  a  victim  was  destined  to 
be  sacrificed,  the  sacred  fillet  was  bound  upon  the  head  of  the 
idol,  the  victim  and  the  priest.  The  salted  cake  was  placed  upon 
the  head  of  the  victim  only:  it  was  called  "  Mola."  Hence  im- 
molare,  or  immolation,  in  latter  times  was  used  to  signify  any  kind 
of  sacrifice. 

The  ancestors  of  our  northern  Indians  were  mere  hunters  ; 
while  the  authors  of  our  tumuli  were  shepherds  and  husbandmen. 
The  temples,  altars  and  sacred  places  of  the  Hindoos  were  always 
situated  on  the  banks  of  some  stream  of  water.  The  same  ob- 
servation applies  to  the  temples,  altars  and  sacred  places  of  those 
who  erected  our  tumuli.  "  To  the  consecrated  streams  of  Hin- 
dostan  devotees  assembled  from  all  parts  of  the  empire,  to  wor- 
ship their  gods,  and  purify  themselves  by  bathing  in  the  sacred 
waters.  In  this  country,  their  sacred  places  were  uniformly  on 
the  banks  of  some  river  ;  and  who  knows  but  the  Muskingum, 
the  Sciota,  the  Miami,  the  Ohio,  the  Cumberland,  and  the  Missis- 
sippi, were  once  deemed  as  sacred,  and  their  banks  as  thickly 
settled,  and  as  well  cultivated,  as  are  now  those  of  the  Ganges, 
the  Indus,  and  the  Barempooter."— ( American  Ant.  Researches.) 
"  Some  years  since  a  clay  vessel  was  discovered,  about  twenty 
feet  below  the  surface,  in  alluvial  earth,  in  digging  a  well  near 
Nashville,  Tennessee,  and  was  found  standing  on  a  rock,  from 
whence  a  spring  of  water  issued.  This  vessel  was  taken  to  Peale's 


1224  AMERICAN    ANTIQUlTIEfl 

museum,  at  Philadelphia.  It  contains  about  one  gallon;  was  cir- 
cular in  its  shape,  with  a  flat  bottom,  from  which  it  rises  in  a  some- 
what globose  form,  terminating  at  the  summit  with  the  figure  of  a 
female  head;  the  place  where  the  water  was  introduced,  or  poured 
out,  was  on  the  one  side  of  it,  nearly  at  the  top  of  the  globose 
part.  The  features  of  the  face  are  Asiatic;  the  crown  of  the 
head  is  covered  by  a  cap  of  pyramidal  figure,  with  a  flattened  cir- 
cular summit,  ending  at  the  apex,  with  a  round  button.  The  ears 
ai'e  large,  extending  as  low  as  the  chin.  The  features  resemble 
many  of  those  engraved  for  Raffle's  history  ;  and  the  cap  resem- 
bles Asiatic  head  dresses." — (Am.  Ant.  Researches.) 

Another  idol  was,  a  few  years  since,  dug  up  in  Natchez,  on 
the  Mississippi,  on  a  piece  of  ground  where,  according  to  tradi- 
tion, long  before  Europeans  visited  this  country,  stood  an  Indian 
temple.  This  idol  is  of  stone,  and  is  nineteen  inches  in  height, 
nine  inches  in  width,  and  seven  inches  thick  at  the  extremities. 
On  its  breast,  as  represented  on  the  plate  of  the  idol,  were  five 
marks,  which  were  evidently  characters  of  some  kind,  resembling, 
as  supposed,  the  Persian  ;  probably  expressing,  in  the  language 
of  its  authors,  the  name  and  supposed  attributes  of  the  senseless 
god  of  stone.  (See  the  plate,  letter  G.)  It  has  been  supposed 
the  present  race  of  Indians  found  their  way  from  Asia,  by  the 
way  of  Bhering's  strait,  and  had  passed  from  thence  along  down 
the  chain  of  northern  lakes,  till  they  finally  came  to  the  Atlantic, 
south  of  Hudson's  bay,  in  latitude  about  50  degrees  north;  long 
before  the  people  who  made  the  great  works  of  the  west.  That 
this  was  the  fact,  is  argued  by  those  who  contend  for  its  belief, 
from  their  having  a  greater  knowledge  of  the  arts  diffused  among 
them  than  the  Indians.  It  is,  say  they,  among  a  dense  popula- 
tion, that  these  improvements  are  effected;  it  is  here  that  necessi- 
ty, the  mother  of  invention,  prompts  man  to  subject,  such  animals 
to  his  dominion,  as  he  discovers  most  docile,  and  best  calculated 
to  assist  him  in  his  labors,  and  to  supply  him  with  food  and  rai- 
ment. This  we  believe,  and  for  this  very  reason  we  hold  the  au- 
thors of  our  western  works  were  thus  enlightened,  before  they 
came  here,  on  the  plains  of  Shinar,  amid  the  density  of  the  popu- 
lation of  the  region  immediately  round  about  the  tower  of  Babel. 
For  it  is  evident,  they  never  would  have  undertaken  to  build  a 
work  so  immense  as  that  tower,  unless  their  numbers  were  consi- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  225 

dered  equal  to  it;  and  much  less,  unless  this  was  the  fact,  could 
they  have  in  reality  effected  it.  While  the  thousands  and  tens  of 
thousands,  who  were  employed  in  that  work,  there  must  also,  for 
their  support,  have  been  a  large  country,  densely  peopled,  under 
contribution.  In  order  to  this,  agriculture  must  have  been  resorted 
to;  instruments  of  metal  were  indispensible,  both  in  clearing  the 
earth  and  in  erecting  the  tower.  All  this  was  learned  from  Noah, 
who  had  brought,  with  himself  and  family,  the  knowledge  of  the 
antediluvians  ;  of  whom  it  is  said  expressly,  in  the  book  of  Gene- 
sis, that  they  both  understood  the  use  of  iron  and  brass,  as  well  as 
agriculture.  Abel  was  a  tiller  of  the  ground;  Tubal  Cain  was  a 
worker  in  iron  and  brass.  It  cannot,  therefore,  be  possible  that 
Noah's  immediate  descendants,  to  the  third  or  tenth  generations, 
could  have  forgotten  these  things.  And  such  as  wandered  least 
after  the  dispersion,  after  such  as  may  have  spoken  the  same  lan- 
guage, had  found  a  place  to  settle  in,  would  most  certainly  retain 
this  antediluvian  information  more  than  such  as  wandered,  as  the 
Tartars  always  have  done. 

One  of  the  arts  known  to  the  builders  of  Babel,  was  that  of 
brick  making;  this  art  was  also  known  to  the  people  who  built 
the  works  in  the  west.  The  knowledge  of  copper  was  known  to 
the  people  of  the  plains  Shinar,  for  Noah  must  have  communica- 
ted it,  as  he  lived  one  hundred  and  fifty  years  among  them  after 
the  flood;  also  copper,  was  known  to  the  antediluvians.  Copper 
was  also  known  to  the  authors  of  the  western  monuments.  Iron 
was  known  to  the  antediluvians;  it  was  also  known  to  the  ancients 
of  the  west.  Copper  ore  is  very  abundant,  in  many  places  of  the 
west  ;  and,  therefore,  as  they  had  a  knowledge  of  it  when  they 
first  came  here  they  knew  how  to  work  it,  and  form  it  into  tools 
and  ornaments.  This  is  the  reason  why  so  many  articles  of  this 
metal  are  found  in  their  works  ;  and  even  if  they  had  a  knowledge 
of  iron  ore,  and  knew  how  to  work  it,  all  articles  made  of  it  must 
have  become  oxydized  as  appears  from  what  few  specimens  have 
been  found,  while  those  of  copper  are  more  imperishable.  Gold 
ornaments  are  said  to  have  been  found  in  several  tumuli.  Silver, 
very  well  plated  on  copper,  has  been  found  in  several  mounds, 
besides  those  at  Circleville  and  Marietta.  An  ornament  of  copper 
was  found  in  a  stone  mound  near  Chilicothe;  it  was  a  bracelet  for 
the  ancle  or  wrist.     The  ancients  of  Asia,  immediately  after  tiw 

15 


AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES. 

dispersion,  were  acquainted  with  ornaments  made  of  the  various 
metals;  for  in  the  family  of  Terah,  who  was  the  father  of  Abra- 
ham and  Nahor,  we  find  these  ornaments  in  use  for  the  beautify- 
ing of  females.  See  the  servant  of  Abraham,  at  the  well  of  Be- 
thuel  in  the  country  of  "  Ur  of  the  Chaldeans,"  or  Mesopotamia, 
which  is  not  very  far  from  the  place  where  Babel  stood — putting 
a  jewel  of  gold  upon  face  or  forehead  of  Rebecca,  weighing  half 
a  shekel,  and  two  bracelets  for  her  wrists,  or  arms.  Bracelets  for 
the  same  use  have  been  found  in  the  west;  all  of  which  circum- 
stances go  to  establish  the  acquaintance  of  those  who  made  those 
ornaments  of  silver  and  corper  found  in  the  mounds  of  the  west, 
equal  with  those  of  Ur  in  Chaldea.  The  families  of  Peleg,  Reu, 
Serug,  and  Nahor,  who  were  the  immediate  progenitors  of  Abra- 
ham, lived  at  an  era  but  little  after  the  flood;  and  yet  we  find 
them  in  the  possession  of  ornaments  of  this  kind;  from  which  we 
conclude  a  knowledge  both  of  the  metals,  and  how  to  make  orna- 
ments, as  above  described,  was  brought  by  Noah  and  his  family 
from  beyond  the  flood. 

A  knowledge,  therefore,  of  these  things  must  have  gone  with 
the  different  people  who  spread  themselves  over  the  whole  earth, 
and  were  retained  by  those  who  wandered  least,  as  we  suppose 
was  the  fact  in  relation  to  the  first  settlers  of  this  continent,  in 
regions  of  the  west.  It  is  believed  by  some  that  the  common  In- 
dian nations  came  jirst  to  this  country  to  the  northwest,  and  fol- 
lowing the  northern  lakes,  found  their  way  to  the  Atlantic;  while 
at  a  later  period,  they  suppose,  the  more  enlightened  nations  of 
China  came  the  same  way,  and  followed  along  down  the  shore  of 
the  Pacific,  till  they  found  a  mild  climate,  along  in  latitudes  50, 
40,  and  30  degrees. 

But  this  is  not  possible:  First,  Because  the  Indians  were  found 
by  us  as  numerous  on  the  shores  of  the  Pacific  as  on  the  shores 
of  the  Atlantic,  and  in  all  the  vast  country  between;  dwelling 
where  a  people  still  more  ancient  than  they,  once  lived,  but  had 
forsaken  their  fields,  their  houses,  their  temples,  mounds,  forts 
and  tumuli,  and  either  were  nearly  exterminated  in  wars  with 
them,  or  wandered  with  to  the  south;  the  residue,  the  descendants 
of  whom  are  found  in  several  of  the  nations  inhabiting  South 
America,  as  we  have  shown  heretofore.  Second,  It  would  seem 
impossible  for  the  people,  or  nations,  who  built  the  vast  works  of 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IX    THE    WE6T  227 

the  west,  and  are  evidently  of  the  shepherd  or  agricultural  cast, 
to  have  crossed  the  stiait,  and  fought  their  way  through  hostile, 
opposing  and  warlike  nations,  till  they  had  established  themselves 
in  their  very  midst.  It  is,  therefore,  much  more  agreeable  to 
reason,  and  also  to  the  traditions,  both  of  the  Azteca  nations 
in  Mexico  and  the  Wyandot  tribes  in  the  west,  to  believe  that  our 
Indians  came  on  the  continent  at  a  much  later  period  than  those 
who  are  the  authors  of  the  works  we  have  described,  and  that 
they  had  many  wars  with  them,  till,  at  length,  they  slowly  moved 
to  the  south,  abandoning  forever  their  country,  to  wander,  they 
knew  not  whither,  as  we  have  also  sh'own.  This  conclusion  is 
not  mere  fancy,  for  it  is  a  matter  of  historic  notice,  that  the 
44  Tchautskis  annually  crossed  Bhering's  strait  to  make  war  on 
the  inhabitants  of  the  northwest  coast  of  America." — (Humboldt, 
vol.  1,  p.  919.) 

The  reader  will  recollect  our  description  of  the  walled  towns  of 
the  west,  surrounded  with  deep  ditches,  as  found  on  Paint  creek, 
Little  Miami,  Circleville,  Marietta,  Cincinnati,  Portsmouth,  and 
in  Perry  county,  Oh'o.  There  is  a  town,  (See  Morse's  Geography, 
vol.  2,  p.  631,)  situated  in  the  regions  of  Mount  Ararat,  in  the  an- 
cient country  called  Independent  Tartary,  by  the  name  of  Khiva, 
which  stands  on  a  rising  ground,  like  the  town  in  Perry  county. 
It  is  surrounded  with  a  high  wall  of  earth,  very  thick,  and  much 
higher  than  the  houses  within.  It  has  three  gateways;  there  are 
turrets  at  small  distances  and  a  broad,  deep  ditch;  the  town  is 
large,  and  occupies  a  considerable  space,  and  commands  a  beau- 
tiful prospect  of  the  distant  plains,  which  the  industry  of  the  in- 
habitants has  rendered  very  fertile;  but  the  houses  of  this  town 
are  very  low,  and  mostly  built  of  clay,  and  the  roofs  flat,  and 
covered  with  earth.  This  town  which  so  exactly  corresponds 
with  the  ruins  of  the  west,  is  in  that  part  of  Asia  east  of  Ararat, 
where  the  primitive  inhabitants,  immediately  after  the  deluge, 
made  the  first  settlements.  And  from  this  coincidence,  we  are 
led  to  a  belief,  drawn  from  this  and  abundant  other  evidence,  that 
the  antiquity  of  the  one  is  equal  with  that  of  the  other;  that  its 
construction  is  indeed  of  the  primitive  form;  which  strengthens 
our  opinion,  that  the  first  inhabitants  of  America  came  here  with 
the  very  ideas  relative  to  the  construction  and  security  of  towns 
and   fortifications,   that  dictated  the  building  of  Khiva.     It  is  a!- 


228  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

lowed  on  all  hands,  that  the  people  of  Asia  are  wholly  of  the 
primitive  stamp;  yet  their  antiquities,  are  of  the  same  character 
with  those  of  America. 

"  Proofs  of  primitive  times,  (says  Mr.  Atwater,)  are  seen  in 
their  manners  and  customs,  in  their  modes  of  burial  and  worship, 
and  in  their  wells,  which  resemble  those  of  the  patriarchal  ages. 
Here  the  reader  has  only  1o  recollect  the  one  at  Marietta,  those 
at  Portsmouth,  on  Paint  creek,  at  Cincinnati,  and  compare  them 
with  those  described  in  Genesis.  Jacob  rolled  the  stone  from  the 
well's  mouth  ,  (that  is,  from  the  fountain  at  the  bottom,)  Rachel 
descended  with  her  pitcher,,  and  brough  up  water  for  her  future 
husband,  and  for  the  flocks  of  her  father." 

Before  men  were  acquainted  with  letters,  they  raised  monu- 
ments of  unwrought  fragments  of  rocks,  for  the  purpose  of  per- 
petuating the  memory  of  events.  Such  we  find  raised  in  America. 
In  the  patriarchal  ages  men  were  in  the  habit  of  burying  their 
dead  on  high  .mountains  and  hills,  with  mounds  or  tumuli  raised 
over  them;  such  we  find  in  America.  Mr.  Atwater  asks  the 
question,  '•  Did  they  not  come  here  as  early  as  the  days  of  Lot 
and  Abraham  V  the  latler  of  whom  lived  something  more  than 
2000  B.  C,  which  would  be  only  about  340  years  after  the  flood, 
and  about  150  years  after  the  confusion  of  language  at  Babel.  If 
so,  they  were  acquainted  more  or  less  with  a  knowledge  of  the 
true  God,  the  creation  of  the  world,  with  the  circumstances  of  the 
building  of  the  ark,  the  fact  of  the  deluge,  the  number  of  persons 
saved  in  the  ark,  or,  as  they  say,  on  a  raft;  and  also  with  circum- 
stances which  transpired  after  the  flood,  as  mentioned  in  Scripture; 
all  of  which  are  plainly  alluded  to  in  Mexican  tradition.  But  other 
nations  than  the  progenitors  of  the  Mexicans  have  also  found  this 
country,  at  other  eras,  one  after  another,  as  accident  or  design 
may  have -determined. 

On  the  shores  of  the  Mississippi,  some  miles  below  lake  Pepin, 
on  a  fine  plain,  exists  an  artificial  elevation  of  about  four  feet 
high,  extending  a  full  mile,  in  somewhat  of  a  circular  form.  It 
is  sufficiently  capacious  to  have  covered  5000  men.  Every  angle 
of  the  breast  work  is  yet  traceable,  though  much  defaced  by  time. 
Here,  it  is  likely,  conflicting  realms  as  great  as  those  of  the  an- 
cient Greeks  and  Persians,  decided  the  fate  of  ambitious  monarchs, 
o[  the  Chinese  Mongol  descent     Weapons  of  brass  have  beeo 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  229 

found  in  many  parts  of  America,  as  in  Canadas,  Florida,  &c. 
with  curiously  sculptured  stones,  all  of  which  go  to  prove  that 
this  country  was  once  peopled  with  civilzed,  industrious  nations, 
now  traversed  the  greater  part  by  savage  hunters.  The  ancient 
Greeks  made  their  swords  of  brass. 


Discovery  of  America  by  the  Norwegians  and  Welch,  before 
the  Time  of  Columbus. 

This  is  contended  by  Lord  Monboddo,  a  native  of  Scotland, 
and  a  philosophical  and  metaphysical  writer  of  the  17th  century. 
He  wrote  a  dissertation  on  the  origin  and  progress  of  language,  in 
which  he  is  sure  he  has  found  among  the  nations  of  America,  the 
ancient  Celtic  or  G?elic  dialect.  He  goes  further,  and  supposes 
that  all  the  nations  of  America,  from  the  Labrador  Esquimaux, 
to  the  natives  of  Florida,  are  derived  of  Celtic  origin. 

Monboddo  argues,  in  support  of  his  opinion,  from  a  number  of 
curious  circumstances.  He  says,  that  when  in  France,  he  was 
acquainted  with  a  French  Jesuit,  a  man  of  great  and  celebrated 
erudition,  who  related  to  him  that  a  companion  of  his,  who  was 
engaged  in  the  missionary  service,  with  himself,  among  the 
northern  Indians  in  America,  having  lost  his  way  in  the  woods, 
travelled  on,  he  knew  not  whether,  till  he  found  himself  among 
the  Esquimaux  Indians. 

Here  he  stayed  long  enough  to  learn  their  language;  after 
which  he  returned  to  Quebec  in  Canada;  and  happening  one  day 
to  be  walking  along  the  docks  of  that  city,  observed  among  the 
crew  of  a  ship  that  was  moored  there,  a  sailor  who  was  a  native 
of  the  country  at  the  foot  of  the  Pyrennean  mountains,  on  the 
side  of  France.  On  hearing  this  man  speak,  who  was  a  Basque, 
from  his  knowledge  of  the  Esquimaux,  obtained  as  above  related, 
he  understood  what  he  said,  so  that  they  conversed  together  a 
while.  Now,  the  language  which  the  Basques  speak,  Lord  Mon- 
boddo informs  us,  is  absolutely  a  dialect  of  the  ancient  Celtic, 
and  differs  but  little  from  the  language  of  the  ancient  Highlanders 
of  Scotland.     This  opinion  is  corroborated  by  a  fact  noticed  in  a 


230  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Scotch  publication,  respecting  an  Esquimaux  Indian,  who  accom- 
panied one  of  the  English  expeditions  towards  the  north  pole, 
with  a  view  to  reach  it,  if  possible,  or  to  find  a  passage  from  the 
North  Atlantic  through  to  the  North  Pacific,  but  did  not  succeed 
on  account  of  the  ice.  On  board  of  this  vessel  was  a  Scotch 
Highlander,  a  native  of  the  island  of  Mull,  one  of  the  Hebrides; 
who,  in  a  few  days  time,  was  enabled  to  converse  fluently  with 
the  Esquimaux;  which  would  seem  to  be  a  proof  of  the  common 
origin,  both  of  the  Esquimaux  language,  and  that  of  the  Basque, 
which  is  the  ancient  Scotch  or  Celtic.  Also  the  same  author 
states,  that  the  Celtic  language  was  spoken  by  many  of  the  tribes 
of  Florida,  which  is  situated  at  the  north  end  of  the  gulf  of 
Mexico;  and  that  he  was  well  acquainted  with  a  gentleman  from 
the  Highlands  of  Scotland,  who  was  several  years  in  Florida,  in 
a  public  character,  and  who  stated  that  many  of  the  tribes  with 
whom  he  had  become  acquainted,  had  the  greatest  affinity  with 
th?  Celtic  in  their  language;  which  appeared  particularly,  both  in 
the  form  of  speech  and  manner  of  reciprocating  the  common 
salutation  of  hoiu  do  you  do?  But  what  is  still  more  remarkable, 
in  their  war  song  he  discovered,  not  only  the  sentiments,  but 
several  lines,  the  very  same  words  as  used  in  Ossiaii's  celebrated 
majestic  poem  of  the  wars  of  his  ancestors,  who  flourished  about 
thirteen  hundred  years  ago.  The  Indian  names  of  several  of 
the  streams,  brooks,  mountains  and  rocks  of  Florida,  are  also  the 
same  which  are  given  to  similar  objects^  in  the  highlands  of  Scot- 
land. This  celebrated  metaphysician  was  a  firm  believer  in  the 
anciently  reported  account  of  America's  having  been  visited  by  a 
colony  from  Wales,  long  previous  to  the  discovery  of  Columbus; 
and  says  the  fact  is  recorded  by  several  Welch  historians,  which 
cannot  be  contested.  It  is  reported  by  travellers  in  the  west,  that 
on  the  Red  river,  which  has  its  origin  north  of  Spanish  Texas, 
but  empties  into  the  Missisippi,  running  through  Louisiana;  that 
on  this  river,  very  far  to  the  southwest,  a  tribe  of  Indians  has 
been  found,  whose  manners,  in  several  respects,  resemble  the 
Welch,  especially  in  their  marriage  and  funeral  ceremonies. 
They  call  themselves  the  McCedus  tribe,  which  having  the  Mc  or 
Mac  attached  to  their  name,  points  evidently  to  a  European 
origin,  of  the  Celtic  description.  It  is  further  reported  by  travel- 
lers, that  northwest  from  the  head  waters  of  the  Red  river,  which 


AND    DI8C0VERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  281 

would  be  in  the  region  called  the  great  American  desert,  Indians 
have  come  down  to  the  white  settlements,  some  thirty  or  forty 
years  since,  who  spoke  the  Welch  language  quite  intelligibly. 
These  Indians,  bearing  such  strong  evidence  of  Welch  extrac- 
tion, may  possibly  be  descended  from  the  lost  colony  from 
Wales,  an  account  of  which  is  given  in  Powl's  History  of  Wales, 
in  the  12th  century;  which  relates,  that  Prince  Madoc,  weary  of 
contending  with  a  brother  for  their  father's  crown,  left  his  coun- 
try, and  sailed  from  Wales  a  due  west  course,  which,  if  they 
came  to  land  at  all  must  have  been  Newfoundland,  which  lies 
opposite  the  mouth  of  the  river  St.  Lawrence,  exactly  in  latitude 
50  degrees  north,  and  which  is  contiguous  to  this  continent.  But 
the  account  relates  that  he  discovered  an  unknown  country;  that 
he  returned  to  Wales,  and  gave  such  a  favorable  history  of  his 
discoveries  and  of  the  goodness  of  the  land,  that  many  were  in- 
duced to  embark  with  him  on  his  second  voyage,  which  he  ac- 
complished. He  returned  again  to  Wales,  but  after  a  while 
sailed  a  third  time  to  the  newly  discovered  country,  but  has  never 
since  been  heard  of. 

The  same  account  as  above,  is  here  again  related,  but  with 
other  circumstances  attending.  "In  the  year  1170,"  663  years 
ago,  which  was  as  before  stated,  in  the  12th  century,  "  Madoc, 
son  of  Owen  Groynwedk,  Prince  of  Wales,  dissatisfied  with  the 
situation  of  affairs  at  home,  left  his  country,  as  related  by  the 
Welch  historian,  in  quest  of  some  new  place  to  settle.  And 
leaving  Ireland  to  the  north,  proceeded  west,  till  he  discovered  a 
fertile  country;  where  leaving  a  colony,  he  returned,  and  per- 
suading many  of  his  countrymen  to  join  him,  put  to  sea  with  ten 
ships,  and  was  never  more  heard  of.*'  We  are  not  in  the  belief 
that  all  the  tribes  of  the  west,  who  have  the  name  of  Indian,  are 
indeed  such.  There  are  many  tribes  which  have  been  discovered 
in  the  western  regions,  as  on  the  Red  river,  in  the  great  Ameri- 
can desert,  west  of  the  head  waters  of  that  river,  and  in  wilds 
west  of  the  Rocky  mountains;  who  are  evidently  not  of  the  Tar- 
tar stock,  whose  complexion,  language,  and  heavy  bearded  faces 
show  them  to  be  of  other  descent.  The  Indians  who  were  living 
on  the  river  Taunton,  in  Massachusetts,  when  the  whites  first 
settled  there,  had  a  tradition  that  certain  strangers  once  sailed  up 
Asoonset,  or  Taunton  river,  in  wooden  houses,   and  conquered 


232  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

the  red  men.  This  tradition  does  not  go  to  lessen  the  probability 
of  the  expedition  of  the  Welch  fleet,  as  above  related,  but 
greatly  to  strengthen  it.  This  account  of  the  Welch  expedition, 
has  several  times  drawn  the  attention  of  the  world;  but  as  no 
vestige  of  them  has  been  found,  it  was  concluded,  perhaps  too 
rashly,  to  be  a  fable;  or  at  least,  that  no  remains  of  the  colony 
exist  Of  late  years,  however,  western  settlers  have  received 
frequent  accounts  of  a  nation  inhabiting  at  a  great  distance  up 
the  Missouri,  in  manners  and  appearance  resembling  the  other 
Indians,  but  speaking  Welch,  and  retaining  some  ceremonies  of 
the  Christian  worship;  and,  at  length,  says  Imlay,  in  his  work, 
entitled  Imlay's  America,  this  is  universally  believed.  Near  the 
falls  of  Ohio,  six  brass  ornaments,  such  as  soldiers  usually  wear 
in  front  of  their  belts,  was  dug  up,  attached  to  six  skeletons- 
They  were  cast  metal,  and  on  one  of  them  which  was  brought  to 
Cincinnati,  was  represented  a  mermaid,  playing  upon  a  harp, 
which  was  the  ancient  coat  of  arms  for  the  principality  of  Wales. 
The  tradition  of  the  oldest  Indians,  is  that  it  was  'at  the  falls  of 
the  Ohio,  that  the  first  white  people  were  cut  of?  by  the  natives. 
It  is  well  authenticated  that  upwards  of  thirty  years  ago,  Indians 
came  to  Kaskaskia,  in  the  territory,  now  the  state  of  Illinois, 
who  spoke  the  Welch  dialect,  and  were  perfectly  understood  by 
two  Welchmen  then  there,  who  conversed  with  them.  From  in- 
formation to  be  relied  on,  tomb  stones,  and  other  monuments  of 
the  existence  of  such  a  people,  have  been  found,  with  the  year 
engraved,  corresponding  very  near  to  that  given  above,  being  in 
the  12th  century.  But  long  before  this  lost  colony  left  Wales, 
Lord  Monboddo  says,  America  was  visited  by  some  Norwegians 
from  Greenland,  who,  it  was  well  known,  were  the  discoverers  of 
Greenland,  in  A.  D.  964,  and  on  that  very  account,  it  might  be 
safely  supposed  they  would  push  their  discoveries  still  farther 
west.  Accordingly,  his  lordship  says,  the  Norwegians  having 
made  a  settlement  in  Greenland,  in  the  end  of  the  tenth  century,, 
some  adventuerers  from  thence  about  that  time,  which  would  be 
more  than  eight  hundred  years  ago,  discovered,  ©r  rather  visited, 
North  America;  for  this  writer  supposes  the  continent  to  have 
been  known  to  the  people  of  the  old  world,  as  early  as  the  time  of 
the  seige  of  Troy;  which  was  about  eleven  hundred  years  before 
Christ;  about  the  time  of  Solomon,  or  rather,  one  hundred  years 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  233 

before  the  time  of  that  king.  This  is  a  point  at  which  the  publi- 
cation of  this  book  aims,  viz:  to  establish  that  this  part  of  the 
earth  was  settled  as  soon  after  the  flood  as  any  other  country  as 
far  from  Ararat,  and  perhaps  sooner. 

Lord  Monboddo  says,  these  Greenland  Norwegian  adventurers 
made  a  settlement  about  the  mouth  of  the  River  St.  Lawrence; 
where  having  found  wild  grapes,  a  German  among  them  named 
the  country  Vinland,  as  is  related  in  the  history  of  this  discovery. 
Mr.  Irving,  in  his  late  life  of  Columbus,  says,  that  as  the  Nor 
wegians  had  never  seen  the  grape  vine,  did  not  know  what  it 
was,  but  their  being  a  German  with  them,  who  was  acquainted 
with  the  grape  of  his  own  native  country,  told  them  its  name, 
from  which  they  named  it  as  above.  This  account  is  recorded 
in  the  annals  of  Iceland;  which  was  peopled  from  Norway, 
which  is  in  the  north  of  Europe;  and  from  Iceland  the  colony 
came  that  settled  in  Greenland,  from  thence  to  the  mouth  of  the 
river  St.  Lawrence,  about  the  year  1000  A.  D.  If  such  was  the 
fact,  there  is  nothing  more  natural,  than  that  they  may  have 
pursued  up  the  river,  even  to  the  lakes,  and  have  settled  around 
them,  and  on  the  islands  in  the  St.  Lawrence.  There  is  an 
island  in  that  river,  called  Chimney  Island,  so  named,  on  account 
of  the  discovery  of  ancient  cellars  and  fire  places,  evidently 
more  ancient  than  the  first  acquaintance  of  the  French  with  that 
country,  which  we  suppose  to  have  been  made  by  these  Norwe- 
gians. This  Scottish  author,  in  his  admired  work  on  the  origin 
and  progress  of  language,  as  well  as  in  other  works  of  his,  re- 
lates a  vast  number  of  curious  and  interesting  circumstances, 
which  relate  to  our  subject;  one  of  the  most  remarkable,  is  an 
account  of  an  Indian  mummy,  discovered  in  Florida,  wrapped  up 
in  a  cloth  manufactured  from  the  bark  of  trees,  and  adorned  with 
hieroglyphical  characters,  precisely  the  same,  with  characters 
engraved  on  a  metal  plate,  found  in  an  ancient  burying  ground, 
in  one  of  the  Ilebride  islands,  north  of  Scotland.  This  country, 
(Scotland)  boasts  of  the  most  ancient  line  of  kings  that  have 
reigned  in  Europe,  having  settled  in  Scotland,  more  than  three- 
hundred  years  before  the  Christian  era,  in  the  time  of  Alexander 
the  Great.  They  are  of  Cimbrick  Chersonese  origin,  who  are 
derived  probably,  from  some  wandering  tribe,  descended  from 
Japheth,  the  white  son  of  Noah,  whose  independence,  the  Greeks 


"234  AMHRICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

nor  Romans  were  never  able,  in  their  wide-spread  conquests,  to 
wrest  from  them;  this  was  reserved  for  the  English  to  accomplish, 
which  was  done  in  1603.  These  islands,  therefore,  north  and 
"west  of  Scotland,  became  peopled  by  their  descendants  at  an  early 
day.  Their  hardiness  of  constitution,  perseverance  of  charac- 
ter, and  adventuring  disposition,  favors,  in  the  strongest  sense, 
the  accounts  as  recorded  in  their  national  documents.  And  a 
reason  why  those  documents  have  not  come  to  light  sooner,  is, 
because  they  were  penned  some  hundred  years  before  the  inven- 
tion of  printing;  and  laid  up  in  the  cabinet  of  some  Norwegian 
chief,  at  a  time  when  but  few  could  read  at  all,  and  the  means  of 
information  did  not  exist,  to  be  compared  with  the  facilities  of 
the  present  time:  therefore,  it  has  been  reserved  to  this  late  era, 
to  unravel,  in  any  degree,  the  mysteries  of  antiquity. 

In  the  work  entitled  "  Irving's  Life  of  Columbus, ''"  is  an  ac- 
count of  the  discovery  of  this  continent,  by  those  northern 
islanders,  given  in  a  more  circumstantial  and  detailed  manner. 
See  his  Appendix  to  vol.  3,  p.  292,  as  follows: — "  The  most 
plausible  or  credible  account  respecting  those  discoveries  is  given 
by  Snoro  Sturleson,  or  Sturloins,  in  his  Saga,  or  Chronicle  of 
King  Olans.  According  to  this  writer,  one  Biorn,  of  Iceland, 
voyaging  to  Greenland  in  search  of  his  father,  from  whom  he 
had  beeen  separated  by  a  storm,  was  driven  by  tempestuous 
weather  far  to  the  southwest,  until  he  came  in  sight  of  a  low 
country,  covered  with  woods,  with  an  island  in  its  vicinity.  The 
weather  becoming  favorable,  he  turned  to  the  northeast,  without 
landing,  and  arrived  safe  at  Greenland.  His  account  of  the  coun- 
try he  had  seen,  it  is  said,  excited  the  enterprise  of  Lief,  son  of 
Eric  Rauda,  (or  red  head,)  the  first  settler  of  Greenland.  A  ves- 
sel was  fitted  out,  and  Leif  and  Biron  departed  together  in  quest 
of  this  unknown  land.  They  found  a  rocky  and  sterile  island, 
to  which  they  gave  the  name  of  Helleland;  also  a  low  sandy 
country,  covered  with  wood,  to  which  they  gave  the  name  of 
Markland;  and  two  days  afterwards  they  observed  a  continuance 
of  the  coast,  with  an  island  to  the  north  of  it.  This  last  they 
described  as  fertile,  well  wooded,  producing  agreeable  fruits,  and 
particularly  grapes;  a  fruit  with  which  they  were  not  acquainted; 
.but  on  being  informed  by  one  of  their  companions,  a  German,  of 
its  qualities  and  name,  they  called  the  country  from  it,    Vinland. 


AND    DI8C0VERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  235 

They  ascended  a  river  well  stored  with  fish,  particularly  salmon, 
and  came  to  a  lake  from  which  the  river  took   its  origin,  where 
they  passed  the  winter.     It  is  very  probable  that  this  river  was 
the  St.  Lawrence,  as  it  abounded  with  salmon,  and  was  the  outlet 
of  a  lake,  which  it  is  likely,  was  Ontario.     There  is  no  other  river 
capable  of  being  navigated,  very  far  from  its  mouth,  with  a  sea 
vessel,  and  which  comes  from  a  lake,  and  empties  into  the  sea, 
on  that  side  of  the  coast,  but  the  St.  Lawrence.     The  climate  ap- 
peared to  them   mild  and   pleasant,   in  comparison,  being  accus- 
tomed to  the  more  rigorous  seasons  of  the  north.     On  the  short- 
est day  in  the  winter  the  sun  was  but  eight  hours  above  the  hori- 
zon; hence  it  has  been  concluded,  that  the  country  was  about  the 
49th  degree  of  north  latitude,  and  was  either  Newfoundland,  or 
some  part  of  the  coast  of  North  America,  about  the  gulf  of  St. 
Lawrence.     It  is  said  in   those  Chronicles  of  Sturloins,  that  the 
relatives  of  Lief  made  several  voyages   to  Vinland;    that  they 
traded  with  the  natives  for  peltry  and  furs;  and  that  in  1121,  714 
vcars  ago,  a  bishop  named  Eric,  went  from  Greenland  to  Vin- 
land, to  convert  the  inhabitants  to  Christianity.     A  knowledge  of 
Christianity  among  the   savage  Britons,    Caledonians   and    the 
Welch,  was  introduced,  as  is  supposed,  by  St.  Paul,  or  some  of 
his  disciples,  as  early  as  A.  D.  63,    more  than  1700  years  since. 
"From  this  time,  about  1121,  we  know  nothing  of  Vinland," 
says  Forester,  in  his  book   of  northern  voyages,  vol.  3,  p.  36,  as 
quoted  by  Irving.     "There   is  every  appearance   that  the  tribe 
which  still  exists   in  the  interior  of  Newfoundland,  and  who   are 
so  different  from  the  other  savages  of  North  America,  both  in 
their   appearance   and  mode   of  living,  and  as  they  always  in  a 
state  of  warfare    with    the   Indians  of  the   northern   coast,   are 
deemed  descendants  of  the  ancient  Normans,  Scandinavians  or 
Danes."     In  the  chronicles  of  these  northern  nations,  there  is 
also  an  account  of  the  voyages  of  four  boat  crews  in  the  year 
1354,   which   corroborates    the    foregoing  relations.     This   little 
squadron  of  fishing  boats  being  overtaken  by  a  mighty  tempest, 
were  driven  about  the  sea  for  many  days,  until  a  boat  containing 
seven  persons,  was  cast  upon  an  island  called  Estotiland,  about 
1000  miles  from  Friesland.     They  were  taken  by  the  inhabitants 
and  carried  to  a  fair  and  populous  city,  where  the  king  sent  for 
many  interpreters  to  converse  with  them,  but  none  that  could  un- 


236  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

derstand,  until  a  man  was  found  who  likewise  had  been  cast  upon 
that  coast  some  time  before.  They  remained  several  days  upon 
the  island,  which  was  rich  and  fruitful.  The  inhabitants  were  in- 
telligent and  acquainted  with  the  mechanical  arts  of  Europe. 
They  cultivated  grain,  made  beer,  and  lived  in  houses  built  of 
stone.  There  were  Latin  books  in  the  king's  library,  though  the 
inhabitants  had  no  knowledge  of  that  language,  and  in  manu- 
script, as  the  art  of  printing  was  not  yet  discovered.  They  had 
many  towns  and  castles,  and  carried  on  a  trade  with  Greenland 
for  pitch,  sulphur  and  peltry.  Though  much  given  to  navigation, 
they  were  ignorant  of  the  use  of  the  compass,  and  finding  the 
Frieslanders  acquainted  with  it,  held  them  in  great  esteem,  and 
the  king  sent  them,  with  twelve  barks,  to  visit  a  country  to  the 
south  called  Drogeo.  Drogeo  is,  most  likely,  a  Norman  name; 
as  we  find  Drogo  was  a  leader  of  the  Normans  against  the  an- 
cient baronies  of  Italy,  about  A.  D.  787.  Drogeo  is  supposed  to 
have  been  the  continent  of  America.  This  voyage  of  the  fishing 
squadron,  it  appears,  was  in  1354,  more  than  fifty  years  after 
the  discovery  of  the  magnetic  needle,  which  was  in  1300,  A.  D. 

They  had  nearly  perished  in  this  storm,  but  were  cast  away 
upo.n  the  coast  of  Drogeo.  They  found  the  people  cannibals,  and 
were  upon  the  point  of  being  killed  and  devoured,  (these  were  our 
Indians,)  but  were  spared  on  account  of  their  great  skill  in  fish- 
ing. Drogeo  they  found  to  be  a  country  of  vast  extent,  or  rather 
a  neio  world  ;  that  the  inhabitants  were  naked  and  barbarous,  but 
that  far  to  the  southwest  there  was  a  more  civilized  region  and 
temperate  climate,  where  the  inhabitants  had  a  knowledge  of  gold 
and  silver,  lived  in  cities,  erected  splendid  temples  to  idols,  and 
sacrificed  human  victims  to  them.  The  same,  it  is  likely,  the 
ruins  of  which  have  been  recently  discovered  and  are  now  being 
explored,  and  account  of  which  we  shall  give  in  another  part  of 
this  work. 

After  the  fisherman,  who  relates  this  account,  had  resided 
many  years  on  the  continent  of  Drogeo,  during  which  time  he  had 
passed  from  the  service  of  one  chieftain  to  another,  and  traversed 
various  parts  of  it,  certain  boats  of  Estotiland,  (now  supposed  to 
ba  Newfoundland,)  arrived  on  the  coast  of  Drogeo.  The  fisher- 
man got  on  board  of  them,  and  acted  as  interpreter,  and  followed 
the  trade  between  the  main  land  of  Drogeo  and  the  island  of   Es- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  237 

totiland,  for  some  time,  until  he  became  very  rich.  He  then  fit- 
ted out  a  barque  of  his  own,  and  with  the  assistance  of  some  of 
the  people  of  the  island,  made  his  way  back  across  the  intervening 
distance  between  Drogeo  and  his  native  country,  Friesland,  in 
Germany. 

The  account  he  gave  of  this  country  determined  Zichmni,  the 
prince  of  Friesland,  to  send  an  expedition  thither  ;  and  Antonio 
Zeno,  a  Venitian,  was  to  command  it.  Just  before  starting,  the 
fisherman,  who  was  to  have  acted  as  pilot,  died  ;  but  certain  ma- 
riners who  accompanied  him  from  Estotiland  were  taken  in  his 
place.  The  expedition  sailed  under  command  of  Zichmni — the 
Venetian,  Zeno,  merely  accompanied  it.  It  was  unsuccessful. 
After  having  discovered  an  island,  called  Icaria,  where  they  met 
with  a  rough  reception  from  the  inhabitants,  and  were  obliged  to 
withdraw;  the  ships  were  driven  by  storm  to  Greenland.  No 
record  remains  of  any  farther  prosecution  of  the  enterprise.  The 
countries  mentioned  in  the  account  written  by  this  Zeno,  were 
laid  down  on  a  map  originally  on  wood.  The  island  Estotiland 
has  been  supposed  by  M.  Malte-Brun  to  be  Newfoundland.  Its 
partially  civilized  inhabitants,  the  descendants  of  the  Scandinavian 
colonists  of  Vinland,  and  the  Latin  books  in  manuscript,  found  in 
the  king's  library,  to  have  belonged  to  the  remains  of  the  library 
of  the  Greenland  bishop  who  emigrated  thither  in  1121,  922  years 
ago.  Drogeo,  according  to  the  same  conjecture, was  Nova  Scotia 
and  New  England.  The  civilized  people  to  the  southwest,  who 
sacrificed  human  beings  in  rich  temples,  he  supposes  to  have 
been  the  Mexicans,  or  some  ancient  nations  of  Florida  or  Lou- 
isiana. 

A  distinguished  writer  of  Copenhagen,  it  is  said,  was  not  long 
since  engaged  in  the  composition  of  a  work  on  the  early  voyages 
of  discovery  to  this  continent,  as  undertaken  by  the  inhabitants  of 
the  north  of  Europe,  more  than  eight  hundred  and  thirty  \ears 
ago.  He  has  in  his  hands  genuine  ancient  documents,  the  exam- 
ination of  which  leads  to  curious  and  surprising  results.  They 
furnish  various  and  unquestionable  evidence,  not  only  that  the 
coast  of  North  America  was  discovered  soon  after  the  discovery 
of  Greenland  by  northern  explorers,  a  part  of  whom  remained 
there,  and  that  it  was  again  visited  in  the  11th,  12th  and  13th 
centuries,    but  also  that  Christianity  was  introduced  amoDg  the 


238  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Indians  of  America.  The  documents  of  this  writer  furnish  even 
a  map,  cut  in  wood,  of  the  northern  coast  of  America,  and  also 
an  account  of  the  sea  coast  south,  as  far  down  as  the  Carolinas, 
and  that  a  principal  station  of  these  adventurers  was  the  mouth  of 
the  river  St.  Lawrence.  He  says  that  it  was  in  the  year  085  that 
America  was  first  discovered  by  Baiske  Her  Juefser,  but  that  he 
did  not  land;  and  that  in  the  year  1000  the  coast  was  visited  by  a 
man  named  Lief,  a  son  of  Eric  the  Red,vfho  colonized  Greenland. 
(Cabinet  of  Literature,  vol.  3.) 

From  the  discoveries  of  Baron  Humboldt  in  South  America,  it 
would  appear  that  the  continent  of  America  has  indeed  been  not 
only  visited  by  the  northern  nations  of  Europe  at  a  very  early  day, 
but  also  to  have  settled  on  it,  and  to  have  become  the  head  of 
tribes,  nations  and  kingdoms,  as  follows: 

In  the  kingdom  of  Guatemala,  North  America,  the  descendants 
of  the  original  inhabitants  preserve  traditions  which  go  back  to  the 
epoch  of  a  great  deluge,  after  which  their  ancestors,  led  by  a  chief 
called  Votan,  had  come  from  a  country  lying  toward  the  north. 
As  late  as  in  the  16th  century,  in  a  village  in  Guatemala,  there 
were  of  the  natives  who  boasted  their  descent  from  the  family  of 
Votan,  or  Vodan.  They  who  have  studied  the  history  of  Scandi- 
navian (old  Norway)  nations,  says  Humboldt,  in  the  heroic  times, 
must  be  struck  at  finding  in  Mexico  a  name  which  recalls  that  of 
Vodan  or  Odin,  who  reigned  among  the  Scythians,  and  whose 
race,  according  to  the  very  remarkable  assertion  of  Bede,  (an  ec- 
clesiastical historian  of  the  17th  century,)  gave  kings  to  a  great 
number  of  nations.  This  wonderfully  corroborates  the  opinion  of 
America's  having  been  settled  in  several  parts  by  Europeans,  at 
a  very  ancient  period. 

The  Shawanese  tribe  of  Indians,  who  now  live  in  Ohio,  once 
lived  on  the  Suaney  river,  in  West  Florida,  near  the  shores  of  the 
southwest  end  of  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  Among  these  Indians,  says 
Mr.  A.twater,  there  is  a  tradition  that  Florida  had  once  been  inha- 
bited by  white  people,  who  had  the  use  of  iron  tools  ;  their  oldest 
Indians  say,  when  children,  they  had  often  heard  it  spoken  of  by 
the  old  people  of  the  tribe,  that  anciently,  stumps  ©f  trees,  covered 
with  earth,  were  frequently  found,  which  had  been  cut  down  by- 
edged  tools. — (Am.  Antq.  Researches,  p.  273.) 

Whoever  they  were,  or  from  whatever  country  they  may  have 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WE8T.  239 

originated,  the  account,  as  given  by  Morse,  the  geographer,  of 
the  subterranean  wall  found  in  North  Carolina,  goes  very  far  to 
show  they  had  a  knowledge  of  iron  ore  ;  and  consequently  knew 
how  to  work  it,  or  they  could  not  have  had  iron  tools,  as  the  Sha- 
wanese  Indians  relate. 

Morse's  account  is  as  follows:  "In  Rowan  county,  North  Ca- 
rolina, about  ten  miles  southwest  from  Salisbury?  two  hundred 
from  the  sea,  and  seventy  from  the  mountains  which  run  across 
the  western  end  of  the  State,  is  found  a  remarkable  subterraneous 
wall.  It  stands  on  uneven  ground,  near  a  small  brook.  The 
stones  of  the  wall  are  all  of  one  kind,  and  contain  iron  ore;  they 
are  of  various  sizes,  but  generally  weighing  about  four  pounds  ; 
all  are  of  a  long  figure,  commonly  seven  inches  in  length,  some- 
times twelve.  The  ends  of  the  stones  form  the  sides  of  the  wall; 
some  of  these  ends  are  square,  others  nearly  of  the  form  of  a  pa- 
rallelogram, triangle,  rhombus  or  rhomboids;  but  most  of  them 
irregular.  Some  preserve  their  dimensions  through  the  whole 
length;  others  terminate  like  a  wedge.  The  alternate  position  of 
great  and  little  ends  aids  in  keeping  the  work  square.  The  sur- 
face of  some  is  plain,  of  some  concave,  of  others  convex.  The 
concave  stone  is  furnished  with  one  convex,  so  as  to  suit  each  oth- 
er; where  the  stones  are  not  firm,  or  shelly,  they  are  curiously 
wedged  in  with  others.  The  most  irregular  are  thrown  into  the 
middle  of  the  wall.  Every  stone  is  covered  with  cement,  which, 
next  to  the  stone,  has  the  appearance  of  iron  rust.  Where  it  is 
thin,  the  rust  has  penetrated  through.  Sometimes  the  cement  is 
an  inch  thick,  and  where  wet,  has  the  fine,  soft,  oily  feeling  of 
putty.  The  thickness  of  the  wall  is  uniformly  twenty-two  inches; 
the  length  discovered  is  rising  of  eighteen  rods,  and  tho  height 
twelve  or  fourteen  feet.  Both  sides  of  this  are  plastered  with 
the  substance  in  which  the  stones  are  laid.  The  top  of  the  wall 
appears  to  run  nearly  parallel  with  the  top  of  the  ground,  be- 
ing generally  about  a  foot  below  the  surface.  In  one  place,  it  is 
several  feet.  There  is  a  bend  or  curve  of  six  feet  or  more, 
after  which  it  proceeds  in  its  former  direction.  The  whole  ap- 
pears to  be  formed  in  the  most  skilful  manner.  Six  or  eight 
miles  from  this  wall,  another  has  been  since  discovered,  forty 
feet  long,  four  and  five  feet  high,  seven  inches  thick  only.     The 


240  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

stones  of  this  wall  are  all  of  one  length. — (Universal  Geography, 
p.  515.) 

In  the  State  of  Tennessee,  which  is  situated  exactly  on  the 
western  end  of  North  Carolina,  are  also  found  the  vestiges  and  re- 
mains of  ancient  dwellings,  towns  and  fortifications, with  mounds, 
barrows,  utensils,  and  images,  wherever  the  soil  is  of  prime  qual- 
ity, and  convenient  to  water. 

The  bodies  of  two  of  these  people  were  discovered  in  the  au- 
tumn of  1810,  in  Warren  county,  in  the  State  of  Tennessee;  one 
of  a  man,  the  other  of  a  child,  to  appearance  about  four  years 
old.  They  were  four  feet  below  the  surface,  in  a  situation  per- 
fectly dry,  there  being  a  mixture  of  copperas,  alum,  sulphur  and 
nitre  in  the  soil  that  covered  them.  Their  skin  was'pre  served, 
though  its  original  complexion  could  not  be  ascertained;  but  the 
'  hair  of  their  heads  was  of  an  auburn  shade.  The  child  was  de- 
posited in  a  basket  well  wrought  of  smooth  splits  of  reeds,  (arvndo 
gigantucu,)  and  several  singular  species  of  cloth,  as  well  as  deer 
skins,  dressed  and  undressed,  were  wrapped  round  and  depo- 
sited with  them  ;  and  two  feather  fans,  and  a  curious  belt. — 
(Morse.) 

From  the  discovery  of  these  two  bodies,  we  think  we  ascertain 
the  inhabitants  to  have  been  white,  like  the  Europeans,  from  the 
color  of  their  hair;  as  it  is  well  known  the  Australasians,  Poly- 
nesians and  Malays,  as  well  as  the  common  Indians,  have  univer- 
sally black,  long  and  shining  hair.  The  body  which  is  mentioned 
by  Prof.  Mitchell,  late  of  New-York,  discovered  in  a  nitrous 
cave  in  the  western  country,  had  red  or  sandy  hair;  such  was  the 
color  of  the  hair  of  the  Scandinavians,  of  the  north  of  Europe, 
and  are  supposed,  upon  authority  indubitable,  to  have  settled  at 
Onondaga,  and  round  about  that  region.  (See  toward  the  close 
of  this  work. 

The  wall  discovered  in  North  Carolina,  as  related  above,  is 
doubtless  a  part  of  a  wall  built  for  the  defence  of  a  town  or  city; 
the  rest  may  have  been  thrown  down  by  an  enemy,  or^it  may  have 
been  never  finished.  The  regular  manner  in  which  it  was  built 
and  laid  in  mortar,  shows  a  considerable  knowledge  of  masonry. 
This  is  by  no  means  very  extraordinary,  as  in  Europe  a  conside- 
rable knowledge  of  the  arts  was  in  possession  of  the  people  ot 
that  country,  derived  from  the  Romans,  who  had  subdued  all  the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  241 

island  of  England,  and  abandoned  the  country,  some  hundred 
years  before  the  time  of  the  Welch  expedition  to  the  west  of  Eu- 
rope, as  we  shall  relate  by  and  by.  What  traits  of  iron  instru- 
ments are  found  scattered  over  this  country,  except  such  as  have 
been  buried  or  lost  in  conflicts  and  battles  with  the  Indians,  since 
the  discovery  of  the  country  by  Columbus,  are  to  be  attributed  to 
these  Scandinavian  and  Welch  settlers  from  the  old  country  ; 
the  latter  about  the  ninth  or  tenth  century,  and  the  former  long 
before. 

If  the  Welch,  as  we  shall  show,  a  few  pages  hence,  found  this 
country  about  the  year  950,  there  was  time  enough  for  them  to 
have  established  themselves  in  many  parts,  and  to  have  built 
themselves  towns,  and  cultivated  the  earth  to  a  great  extent  ;  as, 
from  about  950  till  its  discovery  by  Columbus,  in  1492,  would 
be  not  far  from  542  years.  A  longer  time  than  has  elapsed 
since  its  last  discovery,  and  also  time  enough  for  their  deserted 
works  to  become  covered  with  forests  of  the  age  of  four  and  five 
hundred  years. 

According  to  Morse,  the  ancestors  of  the  Welch  were  the 
Cimbri,  or  northern  Celts.  But  he  says  the  Goths  from  Asia  hav- 
ing seized  on  Germany,  and  a  great  part  of  Gaul,  or  France, 
gradually  repelled  the  Celts,  and  placed  colonies  on  the  island  of 
Britain,  three  or  four  centuries  before  the  Christian  era  ;  that  the 
Romans  found  many  tribes  of  the  Belgse,  or  ancient  Germans, 
when  they  first  invaded  that  island:  consequently,  not  only  the 
Welch,  but  the  English  also,  had,  in  part,  the  Goths,  or  ancient 
Germans,  for  their  ancestors,  and  were  the  people  who,  as  well  as 
the  Scandinavians,  discovered  America  and  settled  here.  It  may 
be  that  from  such  causes  as  these,  are  found,  far  to  the  west, 
several  tribes  of  white  Indians,  originated  from  Welch,  Ger- 
man and  Scandinavian  ancestors,  who  well  might  be  supposed  to 
have  had,  not  only  a  knowledge  of  masonry,  sufficient  to  build 
walls,  but  of  iron  also;  the  traits  of  which  are  found  in  many  parts 
sufficiently  marked  by  oxyzidation  to  throw  the  time  of  their  for- 
mation beyond  the  last  discovery  of  America. 

On  the  river  Gasconade,  which  empties  into  the  Missouri,  on 
the  southern  side,  are  found  the  traces  of  ancient  works,  similar 
to  those  in  North  Carolina.  In  the  saltpetre  caves  of  that  region, 
and  Gasconade  county  in  particular,  were  discovered,  when  they 

16 


242  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

were  first  visited,  axes  and  hammers  made  of  iron;  which  led  to 
the  belief  that  they  had  formerly  worked  those  caves  for  the  sake 
of  the  nitre. 

Dr.  Beck,  from  whose  Gazetteer  of  Missouri  and  Illinois,  p. 
234,  we  have  this  account,  remarks,  however,  that  "it  is  difficult 
to  decide  whether  these  tools  were  left  there  by  the  present  race 
of  Indians,  or  a  more  civilized  race  of  people."  He  says  it  is 
unusual  for  the  savages  of  our  day  to  take  up  their  residence  in 
caves,  considering  them  places  to  which  the  devil  resorts ;  and 
that  they  are  not  acquainted  with  the  uses  of  saltpetre,  and  would 
rather  avoid  them  than  collect  it.  This  author  considers  the  cir- 
cumstance of  finding  those  tools  in  the  nitre  caves,  as  furnishing 
a  degree  of  evidence  that  the  country  of  Gasconade  river  was 
formerly  settled  by  a  race  of  men  who  were  acquainted  with  the 
use  of  iron,  and  exceeded  the  Indians  in  civilization  and  a  know- 
ledge of  the  arts. 

But  there  are  other  facts,  he  says,  connected  with  these,  about 
which  there  can  be  no  mistake.  Not  far  from  this  cave  is  found 
the  ruins  of  an  ancient  town.  It  appears  to  have  been  regularly 
laid  out,  and  the  dimensions  of  the  squares,  streets,  and  some  of 
the  houses,  can  yet  be  discovered. 

Stone  walls  are  found  in  different  parts  of  the  area,  which  are 
frequently  covered  with  huge  heaps  of  earth.  Missouri  joins  Ten- 
nessee on  the  west,  the  same  as  the  latter  does  North  Carolina; 
and  from  a  similarity  of  the  works  discovered,  it  would  appear  that 
a  population,  similar  in  manners  and  pursuits,  inhabited  avast  re- 
gion of  county,  from  the  Atlantic  side  of  North  Carolina,  to  the 
Missouri  Territory.  These  discoveries  rank  with  the  architectu- 
ral works  of  Europe,  in  the  9th  and  10th  centuries;  as  that  long 
before  that  period,  the  use  of  stone  work  had  been  introduced, 
even  in  the  island  of  Britain,  by  the  all-conquering  bands  of  the 
Romans. 

If,therefore,  the  Germans,  Danes, Welch,  Normans,  Icelanders, 
Gruenlanders  or  Scandinavians  settled  in  this  country  who  arc  all 
of  much  the  same  origin,  there  need  be  no  great  mystery  respect- 
ing these  discoveries,  as  they  are  to  be  referred  to  those  nations 
from  Europe,  beyond  all  doubt.  The  ancient  monuments  of  a 
country,  says  Dr.  Morse,  are  intimately  connected  with  the 
epochs  of  its  history  ;  consequently,  as  the  state  of  masonry,  or 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  243 

the  knowledge  of  stone  work,  discovered,  as  above  described,  in 
North  Carolina,  Tennessee  and  Missouri,  is  of  the  same  charac- 
ter with  those  of  Europe,  about  the  time  of  the  9th,  10th,  11th 
and  12th  centuries,  we  conclude  them  to  be  wholly  of  European 
origin. 

About  ten  miles  from  the  spot  where  the  relics  of  this  town  are 
discovered,  on  the  west  side  of  the  Gasconade  river,  is  also  found 
another  stone  work,  still  more  extraordinary,  as  it  is  evident  that 
its  builders  had  indeed  a  competent  knowledge  of  constructing 
buildings  of  that  material.  It  is  about  thirty  feet  square,  and  al- 
though in  a  dilapidated  condition,  appears  to  have  been  erected 
with  a  great  degree  of  regularity;  it  is  situated  on  a  high  bold  clitf, 
which  commands  a  fine  and  extensive  view  of  the  country,  on  all 
sides.  These  antiquities  evidently  form  a  distinct  class,  says  Dr. 
Beck,  ot  which  as  yet  he  had  seen  no  description.  Of  the  same 
class  has  been,  discovered  on  Noyer  creek,  in  Missouri,  the  foun- 
dation of  a  large  stone  building,  fifty-six  feet  in  length  and  twenty- 
two  in  breadth,  divided  into  four  apartments.  The  largest  room 
occupies  about  one  half  of  the  whole  building,  and  is  nearly 
square;  a  second  in  size  is  twelve  feet  by  sixteen,  partly  oval; 
third,  four  by  sixteen;  fourth,  three  by  sixteen  feet.  The  outer 
wall  is  eighteen  inches  thick,  consisting  of  rough,  unhewn  stone; 
the  partitions  between  the  rooms  are  of  the  same  material,  of  equal 
thickness  with  the  outer  wall.  As  an  entrance  into  the  largest 
room,  are  two  door  ways;  the  second  size  one,  and  the  same  of 
the  two  others. — (See  at  the  bottom  of  the  Frontispiece.)  About 
eighty  rods  from  this  structure  is  also  found  the  remains  of  the 
foundation  of  a  stone  building,  nineteen  feet  by  fifteen  in  size,  of 
the  same  character  of  architecture.  One  large  oval  room,  twelve 
feet  by  twelve  on  an  average,  occupies  the  centre,  with  a  door 
way,  and  at  each  end  of  the  room,  two  others,  three  feet  by 
twelve,  without  any  door  ways.  It  is  probable  the  largest  of  these 
buildings  was  the  palace  of  the  chief,  or  king  of  the  tribe,  clan  or 
nation;  where  were  held  the  legislative  councils,  and  the  affairs 
of  government  wore  transacted. 

The  second  building,  placed  at  the  respectful  distance  of  eighty 
rods, was  probably  the  prison  house  and  place  of  execution,  which 
the  small  narrow  cells,  without  any  outside  door  way, would  seem 
to  suggest.     The  prison  in  which  St.  Paul  was  confined  at  Rome 


244  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

is  exactly  of  this  form  and  size,  which  we  consider  a  remarkable 
coincidence,  unless  it  is  allowed  this  American  prison  house,  as  we 
have  supposed  it  was,  had  been  fashioned  after  the  same  manner. 
We  have  an  account  of  this  prison,  in  which  St.  Paul  was  con- 
fined, which  was  built  several  hundred  years  before  the  Christian 
era,  as  given  by  a  gentleman  who  recently  made  the  tour  of  Eu- 
rope.    It  is  as  follows: 

"All  parts  of  Italy  are  interesting  to  the  scholar,  and  many 
parts  to  the  Christian.  Thus,  near  Naples,  at  Puteoli,  I  saw 
where  Paul  landed,  and  I  travelled  between  Naples  and  Rome  on 
the  very  same  road  over  which  he  was  led  prisoner  to  Rome;  and 
if  he  was  incarcerated  in  this  city, which  I  see  no  reason  to  doubt, 
he  doubtless  lived  the  greater  part  of  the  time  he  was  here,  in  his 
own  hired  ho:se.  I  have  been  in  the  same  dungeon,  and  seen 
the  very  pillar  to  which  he  must  have  been  chained.  The  prison 
is  the  Mcwertine,  the  name  and  history  of  which  is  familiar  to 
every  one  acquainted  with  Roman  history,  as  it  was  for  a  long 
time  the  only  prison  of  the  Romans.  It  consists  of  but  two  apart- 
ments, circular,  and  about  twelve  feet  in  diameter,  and  six  feet 
in  height,  the  one  over  the  other,  both  under  ground.  The  only 
entrance  to  them  originally,  was  through  a  small  hole  in  the  top 
of  each,  through  which  the  prisoner  must  have  been  let  down  with 
ropes,  passing  through  the  upper  to  reach  the  lower  prison;  these 
dungeons  were  large  enough  for  the  Romans,  as  the  trial  soon 
followed  the  imprisonment  of  an  offender,  who,  if  found  innocent, 
was  at  once  liberated,  but  if  guilty,  immediately  executed." — Jour- 
nal and  Telegraph,  vol  h\,  No.  191—1832.) 

From  the  Romans,  the  German  or  Belgic  tribes  may  have  de- 
rived their  first  ideas  of  stone  work,  as  from  the  Germans  the 
Danes  derived  the  same.  The  style  and  manner  of  this  building, 
as  it  now  appears,  in  its  ruined  state,  agrees  well  with  the  build- 
ings of  the  ancient  Danes  of  the  north  of  Europe,  in  the  tenth 
and  eleventh  centuries,  which  also  consisted  of  unhewn  stone, 
laid  up  in  their  natural  state,  the  squarest  and  best  formed  selec- 
ted, of  course.  In  these  buildings,  says  Morse,  were  displayed 
the  first  elements  of  the  Gothic  style,  in  which  the  ancient  Belgse 
or  Germans  used  to  erect  their  castles,  in  the  old  world,  eight  or 
nine  hundred  years  ago.  These  works  of  these  distinct  kind  of 
antiquities  are  numerons  in  the  western  countries;  the  regularity, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  245 

form  and  structure  of  which,  says  Dr.  Beck,  favors  the  conclu- 
sion that  tliey  were  the  work  of  a  more  civilized  race  than  those 
who  erected  the  former,  or  more  ancient  works  of  America;  and 
that  they  were  acquainted  with  the  rules  of  architecture,  &c,  (of 
Danish  and  Belgic  origin)  and  perhaps  with  a  perfect  system  of 
warfare. 

At  present,  the  walls  of  this  trait  of  ancient  times  are  from  two 
to  five  feet  high,  the  rooms  of  which  are  entirely  filled  with  forest 
trees;  one  of  which  is  an  oak,  and  was,  ten  years  ago,  nine  feet 
in  circumference. — (Beck's  Gazetteer,  p.  306.)  But  as  to  the 
fact  of  there  having  been  colonies  from  Europe,  who  settled  in 
this  country  many  years  since,  there  can  be  no  higher  evidence 
than  has  been  recently  afforded,  from  a  discovery  made  in  1835, 
in  the  Territory  of  Arkansas. 

On  the  banks  of  White  river,  in  that  Territory,  which  runs  into 
the  Arkansas,  have  been  found  the  remains  of  an  enlightened 
population  of  the  most  extraordinary  character,  on  account 
of  their  dimensions,  and  the  materials  of  which  they  were  erected. 
One  of  these  works  is  a  wall  of  earth,  which  encloses  an  area  of 
six  hundred  and  forty  acres,  equal  to  a  mile  square,  and  having 
in  its  centre  the  foundation  of  a  large  circular  building,  or  temple. 
Another,  yet  more  strange,  and  more  extended,  consists  of  the 
foundations  of  a  great  city,  whose  streets,  crossing  each  other  at 
right  angles,  arc  easily  traced  through  the  mighty  forest.  And 
beside  them  are  found  the  foundations  of  houses,  made  of  burnt 
bricks,  like  the  brick  of  the  present  times.  These  have  been  traced 
to  the  extent  of  a  mile. 

A  knowledge  of  brick-making  was  possessed  by  the  Greeks, 
and  after  them  the  Romans,  who  introduced  the  art  into  all  the 
west  of  Europe,  about  the  time  of  the  Christian  era;  so  that, 
wherever  the  wandering  bands  of  Europe  might  spread  them- 
selves, it  is  not  to  bo  doubted  but  with  them  went  the  art  of  brick- 
making,  as  found  in  their  operations  in  the  western  parts  of  North 
America,  as  in  the  foundations  of  this  brick  city. 


246  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 


Ruins  of  the  City  of  Otolum,  discovered  in  North  America. 

In  a  letter  of  C.  S.  Rafinesque,  whom  we  have  before  quoted, 
to  a  correspondent  in  Europe,  we  find  the  following: — "  Some 
years  ago,  the  Society  of  Geography,  in  Paris,  offered  a  large 
premium  for  a  voyage  to  Guatemala,  and  for  a  new  survey  of  the 
antiquities  of  Yucatan  and  Chiapa,  chiefly  those  fifteen  miles  from 
Palanque." 

"I  have,  says  this  author,  "  restored  to  them  the  true  name  of 
Otolum,  which  is  yet  the  name  of  the  stream  running  through  the 
ruins.  They  were  surveyed  by  Captain  Del  Rio,  in  1787,  an 
account  of  which  was  published  in  English  in  1822.  This  account 
describes  partly  the  ruins  of  a  stone  city,  of  no  less  dimensions 
than  seventy-five  miles  in  circuit;  length  thirty-two,  and  breadth 
twelve  miles,  full  of  palaces,  monuments,  statues  and  inscriptions-, 
one  of  the  earliest  seats  of  American  civilization,  about  equal  to 
Thebes  of  ancient  Egypt." 

It  is  stated  in  the  Family  Magazine,  No.  34,  p.  266,  for  1833, 
as  follows:  "Public  attention  has  been  recently  excited  respecting 
the  ruins  of  an  ancient  city  found  in  Guatemala.  It  would  seem 
that  these  ruins  are  now  being  explored,  and  much  curious  and 
valuable  matter  in  a  literary  and  historical  point  of  view  is  antici- 
pated. We  deem  the  present  a  most  auspicious  moment,  now  that 
the  public  attention  is  turned  to  the  subject,  to  spread  its  contents 
before  our  readers,  as  an  introduction  to  future  discoveries  during 
the  researches  now  in  progress." 

The  following  are  some  particulars,  as  related  by  Captain  Del 
Rio,  who  partially  examined  them  as  above  related,  1787:  From 
Palenque,  the  last  town  northward  in  the  province  of  Ciudad  Real 
de  Chiapa,  taking  a  southwesterly  direction,  and  ascending  a 
ridge  of  high  land  that  divides  the  kingdom  of  Guatemala  from 
Yucatan,  at  the  distance  of  six  miles,  is  the  little  river  Micot, 
whose  waters  flow  in  a  westerly  direction,  and  unite  with  the  great 
river  Tidija,  which  bends  its  course  towards  the  province  of  Ta- 
basco. Having  passed  Micol,  the  ascent  begins;  and  at  half  a 
league,  or  a  mile  and  a  half,  the  traveller  crosses  a  little  stream 
called  Otolum  ;  from  this  point  heaps  of  stone  ruins  are  disco- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  247 

vered,  which  render  the  roads  very  difficult  for  another  half 
league,  when  you  gain  the  height  whereon  the  stone  houses  are 
situated,  heing  still  fourteen  in  number  in  one  place,  some  more 
dilapidated  than  others,  yet  still  having  many  of  their  apartments 
perfectly  discernible. 

A  rectangular  area,  throe  hundred  yards  in  breadth  by  four 
hundred  and  fifty  in  length,  which  is  a  fraction  over  fifty-six  rods 
wide,  and  eighty-four  rods  long,  being,  in  the  whole  circuit,  two 
hundred  and  eighty  rods,  which  is  three-fourths  of  a  mile,  and  a 
trifle  over.  This  area  presents  a  plain  at  the  base  of  the  highest 
mountain  forming  the  ridge.  In  the  centre  of  this  plain  is  situated 
the  largest  of  the  structures  which  has  been  as  yet  discovered 
among  these  ruins.  It  stands  on  a  mound  or  pyramid  twenty 
yards  high,  which  is  sixty  feet,  or  nearly  four  rods  in  perpendic- 
ular altitude,  which  gives  it  a  lofty  and  beautiful  majesty,  as  if  it 
were  a  temple  suspended  in  the  sky.  This  is  surrounded  by 
other  edifices,  namely,  five  to  the  northward,  four  to  the  south- 
ward, one  to  the  southwest,  and  three  to  the  eastward — fourteen 
in  all.  In  all  directions,  the  fragments  of  other  fallen  buildings 
are  seen  extending  along  the  mountain  that  stretches  east  and  west 
either  way  from  these  buildings,  as  if  they  were  the  great  temple 
of  worship,  or  their  government  house,  around  which  they  built 
their  city,  and  where  dwelt  their  kings  and  officers  of  state.  At 
this  place  was  found  a  subterranean  stone  acqueduct,  of  great 
solidity  and  durability,  which  in  its  course  passes  beneath  the 
largest  building. 

Let  it  be  understood,  this  city  of  Otolum,  the  ruins  of  which 
are  so  immense,  is  in  North,  not  South, America,  in  the  same 
latitude  with  the  island  Jamaica,  which  is  about  18  degrees  north 
of  the  equator,  being  on  the  highest  ground  between  the  northern 
end  of  the  Caribbean  sea  and  the  Pacific  ocean,  where  the  con- 
tinent narrows  toward  the  isthmus  of  Darien,  and  is  about  800 
miles  south  of  New-Orleans. 

The  discovery  of  these  ruins,  and  also  of  many  others,  equally 
wonderful  in  the  same  country,  are  just  commencing  to  arouse 
the  attention  of  the  schools  of  TSurope,  who  hitherto  have  denied 
that  America  could  boast  of  her  antiquities.  But  these  immense 
ruins  are  now  being  explored  under  the  direction  of  scientific 
persons,  a  history  of  which,  in  detail,  will  be  forthcoming,  doubt- 


248 


AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 


less,  in  due  time;  two  volumes  of  which,  in  manuscript,  we  are 
informed,  have  already  been  written,  and  cannot  but  be  received 
with  enthusiasm  by  Americans.  The  characters  here  presented 
are  the  glyphs  alluded  to  by  this  author  formed  from  a  combina- 
tion of  the  African  and  American  letters,  shown  and  treated  of, 
on  page  118  of  this  work — and  on  122,  123  and  124.  At  the 
first  glance,  the  most  cursory  observer  is  impressed  with  the  idea 
of  their  likeness  to  the  Chinese  glyphs,  which,  in  the  languages 
in  which  they  were  in  use,  is  equivalent  to  the  combinations  of  our 
letters  when  grooped  so  as  to  spell  words  and  shows  that  America, 
in  its  earliest  history  was  not  without  its  literati  and  means  of 
improvement  by  the  use  of  letters,  but  was  lost  by  means  of 
national  revolutions  in  this  country,  as  has  been  the  fate  of  many 
nations  of  the  old  world,  the  evidence  of  which  is  shown  in  the 
ruins  of  this  American  city,  on  the  stones  of  which  the  letters 
out  of  which  the  glyphs  here  shown. were  combined  for  use,  as 
we  combine  our  letters: — 


By  those  deeply  versed  in  the  antiquities  of  past  ages,  it  is 
contended  that  the  first  people  who  settled  America  came  directly 
from  Chaldea,  immediately  after  the  confusion  of  language  at. 
Babel. — (See  description  of  the  ruins  of  the  American  city,  pub- 
lished in  London,  1832,  p.  33,  by  Dr.  Paul  Felix  Cabrera.) 
Whoever  the  authors  of  the  city  may  have  been,  we  seem  to 
find  in  their  sculptured  deities,  the  idolatry  of  even  the  Phoeni- 
cians, a  people  whose  history  goes  back  nearly  to  the  flood,  or  to 
within  a  hundred  and  fifty  years  of  that  period. 

It  appears  from  some  of  the  historical  works  of  the  Mexicans, 
written  in  pictures,  which  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Spaniards, 
that  there  was  found  one  which  was  written  by  Votan,  and  sets 


AND  DISCOVERIES  IN    THE    WEST.  249 

himself  forth  to  be  the  third  gentile,  (reckoning  from  the  flood  or 
family  of  Noah,)  and  lord  of  the  Tapanahuasec,  or  the  sacred  drum. 
In  the  book  above  alluded  to,  Votan  says  that  he  saw  the  great 
house  which  was  built  by  his  grandfather,  meaning  the  tower  of 
Babel,  which  went  up  from  the  earth  to  the  sky.  In  one  of  those 
picture  books,  the  account  is  given  by  the  Indian  historian,  who- 
ever he  was,  or  at  whatever  time  he  lived,  that  Votan  had  writ- 
ten it  himself.  He  gives  the  account  that  he  made  no  less  than 
four  voyages  to  this  continent,  conducting  with  him  at  one  time 
seven  families.  He  says  that  others  of  his  family  had  gone  away 
before  himself,  and  that  he  was  determined  to  travel  till  he  should 
come  to  the  root  of  heaven,  the  skic,  (in  the  west,)  in  order  to 
discover  his  relation  the  Culebras,  or  Snake  people,  and  calls 
himself  Culcbra,  (a  snake,)  and  that  he  found  them,  and  became 
their  captain.  He  mentions  the  name  of  the  town  which  his 
relation  had  built  at  first,  which  was  Tezequil. 

Agreeing  with  this  account,  it  is  found  by  exploring  the  ruins 
of  this  city,  and  its  sculptures,  that  among  a  multitude  of  strange 
representations  are  found  two  which  represent  this  Votan,  on 
both  continents.  The  continents  are  shown  by  being  painted  in 
two  parallel  squares,  and  standing  on  each  is  this  Votan,  showing 
his  acquaintance  with  each  of  them.  The  pictures  engraven  on 
the  stones  which  form  the  sides  of  the  houses  or  temples  of  this 
ruined  city,  are  a  series  of  hieroglyphics  which  show,  beyond  all 
doubt,  that  the  era  of  its  construction,  and  of  the  people  who 
built  it,  excels  in  antiquity  those  of  the  ancient  Greeks,  the  Ro- 
mans, and  the  most  celebrated  nations  of  the  old  world,  and  is 
worthy  of  being  compared  even  with  the  first  progenitors  of  the 
Hebrews  themselves,  after  the  flood. — (See  History  of  American 
City,  as  before  quoted,  p.  39,) 

It  is  found  that  the  gods  of  the  ancient  Egyptians,  even  Osiris, 
Apis  and  Isis,  are  sculptured  on  the  stones  of  this  city,  the  wor- 
ship of  which  passed  from  Egypt  to  many  nations,  and  is  found 
under  many  forms,  but  all  traceble  to  the  same  original.  We- 
have  examined  the  forms  of  the  figuers  cut  on  the  side  of  the  famous 
Obelisk  of  seventy-two  feet  in  height,  brought  not  long  since  from 
Egypt,  by  the  French  government,  and  erected  in  Paris;  and 
have  compared  them  with  some  of  the  sculptured  forms  of  men, 
found  on  the  stones  of  this  city,  in  which  there  is  an  exact  cop- 


250  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

responclence,  in  one  remarkable  particular.  On  the  obelisk — is 
represented  a  king  or  god  seated  on  a  throne,  holding  in  one 
hand  a  rod  grasped  in  its  middle,  having  on  its  top  the  figure  of 
a  small  bird. 

The  arm  holding  this  is  extended  toward  a  person  who  is  rest- 
ing on  one  knee  before  him  and  offers  from  each  of  his  hands, 
that  which  is  either  food,  drink  or  incence  to  the  one  on  the 
throne.  The  head  ornaments  are  of  the  most  fantastic  construc- 
tion. The  same  without  variation  is  cut  in  the  stones  of  the 
ruined  American  city  in  many  places;  with  this  difference  only, 
the  American  sculpture  is  much  larger,  as  if  representing  gigan- 
tic beings,  but  is  of  the  same  character.  Can  we  have  a  better 
proof  than  this,  that  Egyptian  Colonies  have  reached  America 
in  the  very  first  ages  of  the  world  after  the  flood,  or  some  people 
having  the  notions,  the  religion  and  the  arts  of  the  Egyptians, 
and  such  were  the  most  ancient  people  of  Canaan,  the  Hivites, 
Perisites  and  Ilitites  which  names  denote  all  these  nations  as 
serpent  worshipers. 

As  it  respects  the  true  founders  of  this  city,  the  discovery  and 
contents  of  which  are  now  causing  so  great  and  general  interest 
in  both  this  country  and  Europe,  it  is  ascertained  in  the  most 
direct  and  satisfactory  way,  in  the  work  to  which  we  have  just 
alluded^  published  in  London,  1832,  on  the  subject  of  this  city, 
that  they  were  the  ancient  Hivites,  one  of  the  nations  which  in- 
habited Palestine,  or  Canaan,  a  remnant  of  which,  it  is  ascer- 
tainedj  fled  into  the  kingdom  of  Tyre,  and  there  settled,  and  into 
Africa^  to  avoid  annihilation  by  the  wars  of  Joshua,  the  captain 
of  the  Jews;  and  that  among  them  was  one  who  acted  as  a 
leader,  and  was  called  Votan,  and  that  he  sailed  from  a  port  in 
ancient  Tyre,  which  before  it  was  known  by  that  name,  was 
called  Chivim,  and  that  this  Votan  was  the  third  in  the  gentile 
descent  from  Noah,  and  that  he  made  several  voyages  to  and 
from  America.  But  the  kingdom  which  was  founded  by  Votan, 
was  finally  destroyed  by  other  nations,  and  their  works,  their 
cities  and  towns  turned  into  a  wilderness,  as  they  are  now  found 
to  be.  (The  word  Hivite,  which  distinguished  one  of  the  nations 
of  old  Canaan  in  the  time  of  Joshua,  signifies  the  same  thing  in 
the  Phcenecian  language,  Serpent  people  or  worshipers.)  The 
Hivites,  it  appears,  were  the  ancestors  of  the  Moors,  who  spread 


AND  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST-  251 

themselves  all  along  the  western  coast  of  Africa,  at  an  early  pe- 
riod, and  in  later  times  they  overran  the  country  of  Spain,  till  the 
Romans  supplanted  them;  who  in  their  turn  were  supplanted  by 
the  northern  nations  of  Germany,  the  Goths,  &c.  The  Moors 
were  not  the  proper  Africans,  as  the  hair  of  their  heads  was  long, 
straight  and  shining.  They  were  a  different  race,  and  of  differ- 
ent manners  and  attainments.  The  contour  of  the  faces  of  the 
authors  of  the  American  city,  found  sculptured  on  the  stones  of 
its  ruins,  are  in  exact  correspondence  with  the  forehead  and  nose 
of  the  ancient  Moors,  the  latter  of  which  was  remarkable  for  its 
aquiline  shape,  and  was  a  national  trait,  characteristic  of  the 
Moors  as  well  as  the  Romans. 

When  the  Spaniards  overran  Peru,  which  lies  on  the  western 
side  of  South  America  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific  were  found 
statues,  obelisks,  mausolea,  edifices,  fortresses,  all  of  stone, 
equal,  with  the  architecture  of  Egypt,  Greece,  and  Rome,  six 
hundred  years  before  the  christian  era.  Roads  were  cut  through 
the  Cordillera  mountains;  gold,  silver,  copper,  and  led  mines, 
were  opened  and  worked  to  a  great  extent;  all  of  which  is  evi- 
dence of  their  knowledge  of  architecture,  mineralogy  and  agri- 
culture. In  many  places  of  that  country,  are  found  the  ruins  of 
noble  aqueducts  some  of  which,  says  Dr.  Morse,  the  geographer, 
would  have  been  thought  works  of  difficulty  in  civilized  nations. 
Several  pillars  of  stone  are  now  standing,  which  were  erected  to 
point  out  the  equinoxes  and  solstices.  In  their  sepulchres  were 
found  paintings,  vessels  of  gold  and  silver,  implements  of  war- 
fare, husbandry,  &c.  Tq  illustrate  the  architectural  knowledge 
of  the  Peruvians  as  well  as  of  some  other  provinces  of  South 
America,  we  quote  the  following  from  Baron  Humboldt's  Re- 
searches, 1st  vol.  Eng.  Trans.  Amer.  edt.,  p.  255: — "There- 
mains  of  Peruvian  architecture,  are  scattered  along  the  ridge  of 
the  Cordilleras,  from  Cuzco  to  Cajambe,  or  from  the  13th  degree 
of  north  latitude  to  the  equator,  a  distance  of  nearly  a  thou- 
sand miles.  What  an  empire,  and  what  works  are  these,  which 
all  bear  the  same  character,  in  the  cut  of  the  stones,  the  shape  of 
the  doors  to  their  stone  buildings,  the  symmetrical  disposal  of  the 
niches,  and  the  total  absence  of  exterior  ornaments.  This  uni- 
formity of  construction  is  so  great  that  all  the  stations  along  the 
high  road,  called  in  that  country  palaces  of  the  Incas,  or  kings 


252  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

of  the  Peruvians,  appear  to  have  been  copied  from  each  other: 
simplicity,  symmetry,  and  solidity,  were  the  three  characters,  by 
which  the  Peruvian  edifices  were  distinguished.  The  citadel  of 
Cannar,  and  the  square  buildings  surrounding  it,  are  not  con- 
structed with  the  same  quartz  sandstone,  which  covers  the  primi- 
tive slate,  and  the  prophyries  of  Assuay;  and  which  appears  at 
the  surface,  in  the  garden  of  the  Inca,  as  we  descend  toward  the 
valley  of  Gulan,  but  of  trappean  prophyry,  of  great  hardness, 
enclosing  nitrous  feldspar,  and  hornblende.  This  prophyry  was 
perhaps  dug  in  the  great  quarries  which  are  found  at  4000  metres 
in  height,  (which  is  13000  feet  and  a  fraction,  making  two  and  a 
third  miles  in  perpendicular  height,J  near  the  lake  of  Cuiebrilla, 
or  Serpent  lake,  ten  miles  from  Cannar.  To  cut  the  stones  for 
the  buildings  of  Cannar,  at  so  great  a  height,  and  to  bring  them 
down  and  transport  them  ten  miles,  is  equal  with  any  of  the  works 
of  the  ancients,  who  built  the  cities  of  Pompeii,  Herculaneum, 
and  Stabia,  long  before  the  Christian  era. 

"We  do  not  find,  however,"  says  Humboldt,  "  in  the  ruins  of 
Cannar,  those  stones  of  enormous  size,  which  we  see  in  the  Peru- 
vian edifices  of  Cuzco  and  the  neighboring  countries.  Acosto  he 
says,  measured  some  at  Traquanaco,  which  were  twelve  metres 
(38  feet)  long,  and  five  metres  eight  tenths,  (18  feet)  broad,  and 
one  metre  nine  tenths  (6  feet)  thick."  The  stones  made  use  of 
in  building  the  temple  of  Solomon,  were  but  a  trifle  larger  than 
these,  some  of  which  were  twenty-five  cubits,  (43  feet  9  inches) 
long,  twelve  cubits  (29  feet)  wide,  and  eight  cubits,  (14  feet) 
thick,  reckoning  twenty-one  inches  to  the  cubit.  # 

"  One  of  the  temples  of  ancient  Egypt  is  now,  in  its  state  of 
ruin,  a  mile  and  a  half  in  circumference.  It  has  twelve  principal 
entrances.  The  body  of  the  temple  consists  of  a  prodigious  hall 
or  portico;  the  roof  is  supported  by  134  columns.  Four  beauti- 
ful obelisks  mark  the  entrance  to  the  shrine,  a  place  of  sacrifice, 
which  contains  three  apartments,  built  entirely  of  granite.  The 
temple  of  Luxor,  probably  surpasses  in  beauty  and  splendor  all 
the  other  ruins  of  Egypt.  In  front  are  two  of  the  finest  obelisks 
in  the  world;  they  are  of  rose  colored  marble,  one  hundred  feet 
high.  But  the  objects  which  most  attract  attention,  are  the  sculp- 
tures which  cover  the  whole  of  the  northern  front.  They  con- 
tain, on  a  great  scale,  a  representation  of  a  victory  gained  by 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  253 

one  of  the  ancient  kings  of  Egypt  over  an  enemy.  The  number 
of  human  figures,  cut  in  the  solid  stone,  amounts  to  1,500;  of 
these,  500  are  on  foot,  and  1,000  in  chariots.  Such  are  the  re- 
mains of  a  city,  which  perished  long  before  the  records  of  ancient 
history  had  a  being." — Malle-Brun. 

We  are  compelled  to  ascribe  some  of  the  vast  operations  of  the 
ancient  nations  of  this  country,  to  those  ages  which  correspond 
with  the  times  and  manners  of  the  people  of  Egypt,  which  are 
also  beyond  the  reach  of  authentic  history.  It  should  be  recol- 
lected that  the  fleets  of  king  Hiram  navigated  the  seas  in  a  sur- 
prising manner,  seeing  they  had  not,  as  is  supposed,  (but  not 
proven,)  a  knowledge  of  the  magnetic  needle;  and  in  some  voy- 
age out  of  the  Mediterranean,  into  the  Atlantic,  they  may  have 
been  driven  to  South  America;  where  having  found  a  country, 
rich  in  all  the  resources  of  nature,  more  so  than  even  their  na- 
tive country,  founded  a  kingdom^  built  cities,  cultivated  fields, 
marshalled  armies,  made  roads,  built  aqueducts,  became  rich, 
magnificent  and  powerful,  as  the  vastness  and  extent  of  the  ruins 
of  Peru,  and  other  provinces  of  South  America,  plainly  show- 

Humboldt  says,  that  he  saw  at  Pullal,  three  houses  made  of 
stone,  which  were  built  by  the  Incas,  (king)  each  of  which  was 
more  than  fifty  metres,  or  a  hundred  and  fifty  feet  long,  laid  in  a 
cement,  or  true  mortar.  This  fact,  he  says,  deserves  attention, 
because  travellers  who  had  preceded  him,  had  unanimously  over- 
looked this  circumstance,  asserting,  that  the  Peruvians  wore  un- 
acquainted with  the  use  of  mortar,  but  is  erroneous.  The  Peru- 
vians not  only  employed  a  mortar,  in  the  great  edifices  of  Pacari- 
tambo,  but  made  use  of  a  cement  of  asphaltum;  a  mode  of  con- 
struction, which  on  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  may 
be  traced  back  to  the  remotest  antiquity.  The  tools  made  use  of 
to  cut  their  stone  was  copper,  hardened  with  tin,  the  same  made 
use  of  among  the  Greeks  and  Romans,  and  other  nations,  of 
which  we  have  spoken,  in  another  place  of  this  work. 

To  show  the  genius  and  enterprise  of  the  natives  of  Mexico, 
before  America  was  last  discovered,  we  give  the  following  as  but 
a  single  instance:  Montezuma,  the  last  king  but  one  of  Mexico, 
A.  D.  1446,  forty-six  years  before  the  discovery  of  America  by 
Columbus,  erected  a  dyke  to  prevent  the  overflowing  of  the  wa- 
ters of  certain  small  lakes  in  the  vicinity  of  their  city,  which  had 


254  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

several  times  deluged  it.  This  dyke  consisted  of  a  bank  of  stones 
and  clay,  supported  on  each  side  by  a  range  of  palisadoes;  ex- 
tending in  its  whole  length  about  seventy  miles,  and  sixty-five 
feet  broad,  its  whole  length  sufficiently  high  to  intercept  the  over- 
flowings of  the  lakes,  in  times  of  high  water,  occasioned  by  the 
spring  floods.  In  Holland,  the  Dutch  have  resorted  to  the  same 
means  to  prevent  incursions  of  the  sea;  and  the  longest  of  the 
many  is  but  forty  miles  in  extent,  nearly  one  half  short  of  the 
Mexican  dyke.  "  Amidst  the  extensive  plains  of  Upper  Canada, 
in  Florida,  near  the  gulf  of  Mexico,  and  in  the  deserts  bordered 
by  the  Orinoco,  in  Colombia,  dykes  of  a  considerable  length, 
weapons  of  brass,  and  sculptured  stones,  are  found,  which  are 
the  indications  that  those  countries  were  formerly  inhabited  by 
industrious  nations,  which  are  now  traversed  only  by  tribes  of 
savage  hunters." — Humboldt. 

Samuel  R.  Brown,  author  of  the  Western  Gazetteer,  1817, 
says  he  examined  one  of  those  remains  of  the  ancient  nations, 
situated  at  the  mouth  of  big  Scioto  river  on  a  high  bank  of  the 
Ohio,  a  half  mile  from  the  water.  He  has  no  doubt  it  was  a 
military  position  of  great  strength,  and  describes  it  as  follows: — 

"The  walls  are  yet  standing,  and  enclosing,  as  nearly  as  I  could 
ascertain  by  pacing,  fourteen  acres  of  ground.  It  is  of  a  square 
form,  like  the  ancient  Roman  military  works.  The  officious  hand 
of  civilized  man  has  not  yet  marred  the  woods  which  shade  these 
venerable  ruins;  nor  has  any  curious  antiquarian  mutilated  the 
walls,  by  digging  in  search  of  hidden  treasure;  the  walls  in  many 
places  are  yet  sixteen  feet  high,  and  no  where  less  than  eight.  At 
their  base  they  are  about  thirty  feet,  and  wide  enough  at  their  top 
to  admit  a  horse  team  and  wagon.  There  are  seven  gateways, 
three  on  the  west,  two  on  the  east,  and  two  on  the  north,  all  being 
about  twenty  feet  wide.  On  the  northwest  side  are  the  ruins  of 
a  covered  way,  extending  to  a  creek,  at  the  distance  of  two  hun- 
dred and  eighty  rods.  The  covering  is  fallen  in,  and  large  trees 
are  growing  in  the  ditch.  On  the  west  side  are  taw  covered  ways 
•leading  also  to  the  same  creek.  These  are  apart  from  each  other 
about  thirty  feet,  and  extending  about  forty  rods,  till  they  reach 
the  stream.  These  walls  are  as  wide  and  as  high  as  the 
walls  of  the   fort.     On  the  east  side  are  also  two  covered  ways, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  255 

at  convenient  distances  from  each  other,  leading  to  another  small 
creek. 

Thus  the  garrison  of  this  ancient  fortification  had  Jive  avenues 
through  which  they  could  safely  procure  water.'"  This  could 
never  have  been  the  work  of  the  common  Indians. 

There  is  a  river  in  South  America, the  largest  river  in  the  known 
world,  which  is  the  Amazon,  the  native  or  Indian  name.  There 
were  in  very  remote  times,  a  people  who  inhabited  a  part  of  an- 
cient Italy,  called  Amazons.  May  not  the  shores  of  this  river 
have  been  settled  by  a  colony  of  Amazons,  or  have  given  it  a 
name  so  much  resembling  the  name  of  that  people  1 


Great  Stone  Calendar  of  the  Mexicans. 

This  stone  was  found  near  the  site  of  the  present  city  of  Mexico, 
buried  some  feet  beneath  the  soil,  on  which  is  engraven  a  great 
number  of  hieroglyphics,  signifying  the  divisions  of  time,  the 
motions  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  twelve  signs  of  the  Zodiac, 
with  reference  to  the  feasts  and  sacrifices  of  the  Mexicans,  and  is 
called  by  Humboldt  the  Mexican  Calendar,  in  relief,  on  basalt,  a 
kind  of  stone. 

This  deservedly  celebrated  historiographer  and  antiquarian  has 
devoted  a  hundred  pages,  and  more,  of  his  octavo  work,  entitled 
Researches  in  America,  in  describing  the  similarity  which  exists 
between  its  representations  of  astrology,  astronomy,  and  the  di- 
visions of  time,  and  those  of  a  great  multitude  of  the  nations  of 
Asia:  Chinese,  Japanese,  Calmucks,  Moghols,  Mantchaus,  and 
other  Tartar  nations;  the  Egyptians,  Babylonians,  Persians,  Phce- 
nicians,  Greeks,  Romans,  Hebrews,  and  ancient  Celtic  nations  of 
Europe.  See  the  American  edition,  by  Helen  Maria  Williams, 
vol.  1.  The  size  of  this  stone  was  very  great,  being  a  fraction 
over  twelve  feet  square,  three  feet  in  thickness,  weighing  twenty- 
four  tons.     It  is  of  the  kind  of  stone  denominated  trappean  por- 


256 


AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 


phyry,  of  the  blackish  grey  color.     We  here  present  a  fac  simile 
of  this  stone. 


The  place  where  it  was  found  was  more  than  thirty  miles  from 
any  quarry  of  the  kind;  from  which  we  discover  the  ability  of  the 
ancient  inhabitants  not  only  to  transport  stones  of  great  size,  as 
well  as  the  ancient  Egyptians,  in  building  their  cities  and  temples 
of  marble,  but  also  to  cut  and  engrave  on  stone,  equal  with  the 
present  age. 

It  was  discovered  in  the  vale  of  Mexico,  in  A.  D.  1791,  in  the 
spot  where  Cortez  ordered  it  to  be  buried,  when,  with  his  fero- 
cious Spaniards,  that  country  was  devastated.  That  Spaniard 
universally  broke  to  pieces  all  images  of  stone  which  came  in 
his  way,  except  such  as  were  too  large  and  strong  to  be  quickly 
and  easily  thus  affected.  Such  he  buried,  among  which  this 
sculptured  stone  was  one.  This  was  done  to  hide  them  from  the 
sight  of  the  natives,  whose  strong  attachment,  whenever  they  saw 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  257 

them,  counteracted  their  conversion  to  the  Roman  Catholic  reli- 
gion. 

The  sculptured  work  on  this  stone  is  in  circles;  the  outer  one 
of  all  is  a  trifle  over  twenty-seven  feet  in  circumference — from 
which  the  reader  can  have  a  tolerable  notion  of  its  size  and  ap- 
pearance. The  whole  stone  is  intensely  crowded  with  represen- 
tations and  hieroglyphics,  arranged,  however,  in  order  and  har- 
mony, every  way  equal  with  any  astronomical  calendar  of  the 
present  day.  It  is  further  described  by  Baron  Humboldt,  who 
saw  and  examined  it  on  the  spot. 

"  The  concentric  circles,  the  numerous  divisions  and  subdivi- 
sions engraven  on  this  stone,  are  traced  with  mathematical  pre- 
cision. The  more  minutely  the  detail  of  this  sculpture  is  exam- 
ined, the  greater  the  taste  we  find  in  the  repetition  of  the  same 
forms.  In  the  centre  of  the  stone  is  sculptured  the  celebrated 
sign  nahiiiolin-Tonatiuh,  the  Sun,  which  is  surrounded  by  eight 
triangular  radii.  The  god  Tonatiuh,  or  the  sun,  is  figured  on  this 
stone,  opening  his  large  mouth,  armed  with  teeth,  with  the  tongue 
protruded  to  a  great  length.  This  yawning  mouth  and  protruded 
tongue,  is  like  the  image  of  Kala,  or  in  another  word,  Time — a 
divinity  of  Hindostan.  Its  dreadful  mouth,  armed  with  teeth,  is 
meant  to  show  that  the  god  Tonatiuh,  or  time,  swallows  the  world, 
opening  a  fiery  mouth,  devouring  the  years,  months  and  days,  as 
fast  as  they  come  into  being.  The  same  image  we  find  under  the 
name  of  Moloch,  among  the  Phoenicians,  some  of  the  ancient  in- 
habitants on  the  eastern  side  of  the  Mediterranean,  from  which 
very  country,  there  can  be  but  little  doubt,  America  received  a 
portion  of  its  earliest  inhabitants.  Hence  a  knowledge  of  the  arts 
to  great  perfection,  as  found  among  the  Mexicans,  was  thus  de- 
rived. Humboldt  says  the  Mexicans  have  evidently  followed  the 
Persians  in  the  division  of  time,  as  represented  on  this  stone.  The 
Persians  flourished  1000  years  before  Christ. 

"  The  structure  of  the  Mexican  acqueducts  leads  the  imagina- 
nation  at  once  to  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean." — (Thomas' 
Travels,  p.  293.  The  size,  grandeur  and  riches  of  the  tumuli  on 
the  European  and  Asiatic  sides  of  the  Cimmerian  strait,  (which 
unites  the  Black  sea  with  the  Archipelago,  a  part  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean, the  region  of  ancient  Greece,  where  the  capital  of  Tur- 
key in    Europe    now   stands,    called   Constantinople,)    "  excite 

17 


258  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

astonishing  ideas  of  the  wealth  and  power  of  the  people  by 
whom  they  were  constructed.  And  in  view  of  labor  so  prodigious, 
as  well  as  expenditure  so  enormous,  for  the  mere  purpose  or 
inhuming  a  single  body,  customs  and  superstitions  which  illus- 
trate the  origin  of  the  pyramids  of  Egypt,  the  cavern  of  Ele- 
phanta,  and  the  first  temples  of  the  ancient  world." — (Thomas' 

Travels.) 
But,    whatever  power,  wealth,  genius,    magnitude  of  tumuli, 

mounds  and  pyramids  are  found  about  the  Mediterranean,  where 
the  Egyptian,  the  Phoenician,  Persian  and  the  Greek,  have  dis- 
played the  monuments  of  this  most  ancient  sort  of  antiquities, — 
all,  all  is  realized  in  North  and  South  America,  and,  doubtless, 
under  the  influence  of  the  same  superstition,  and  eras  of  time, — 
having  crossed  over,  as  before  argued  ;  and  among  the  various 
aboi-iginal  nations  of  South  and  North  America,  but  especially 
the  former,  are  undoubtedly  found  the  descendants  of  the  fierce 
Medes  and  Persians,  and  other  warlike  nations  of  the  old  world. 

The  discoveries  of  travellers  in  that  country  show,  even  at  the 
present  time,  that  the  ancient  customs  in  relation  to  securing  their 
habitations  with  a  wall,  still  prevail.  Towns  in  the  interior  of 
Africa,  on  the  river  Niger,  of  great  extent,  are  found  to  be  sur- 
rounded by  walls  of  earth,  in  the  same  manner  as  those  of  the 
west  in  North  America. 

See  the  account  as  given  by  Richard  Lander:  "  On  the  4th  of 
May  we  entered  a  town  of  prodigious  extent,  fortified  with  three 
walls,  of  little  less  than  twenty  miles  in  circuit,  with  ditches  or 
moats  between.  This  town,  called  Boo-hoo,  is  in  the  latitude  of 
about  8  degrees  43  minutes  north,  and  longitude  5  degrees  and  10 
minutes  east.  On  the  17th  we  came  to  Roossa,  which  is  a  cluster 
of  huts  walled  with  earth." 

This  traveller  states,  that  there  is  a  kingdom,  there  called 
"Yaorie,  which  is  large,  powerful,  and  flourishing  ;  a  city  which 
is  of  prodigious  extent.  The  wall  surrounding  it  is  of  clay,  and 
very  high,  its  circuit  between  twenty  and  thirty  miles.  He 
mentions  several  other  places  enclosed  by  earth  walls  in  the  same 
manner. 

It  is  easy  to  perceive  the  resemblance  between  these  walled 
towns  in  central  Africa,  and  the  remains  of  similar  works  in  this 
country,  America. 


AND    DISCOVKRfES    IN    THE    WEST.  259 


A  further  Account  of  European  Settlements. 

There  are  the  remains  of  one  of  those  efforts  of  Scandinavian 
defence,  situated  on  a  hill  of  singular  form,  on  the  great  sand 
plain  between  the  Susquehannah  and  Chemung  rivers,  near  their 
junction.  The  hill  is  entirely  isolated,  about  three- fourths  of  a 
mile  in  circumference,  and  more  than  one  hundred  feet  high.  It 
has  been  supposed  to  be  artificial,  and  to  belong  to  the  ancient  na- 
tions to  which  all  works  of  this  sort  generally  belong. 

In  the  surrounding  plain  are  many  deep  holes,  of  twenty  or 
thirty  rods  in  circumference,  and  twenty  feet  deep — favoring  a 
belief  that  from  these  the  earth  was  scooped  out,  to  form  the  hill 
with.  It  is  four  acres  large  on  its  top,  and  perfectly  level,  beau- 
tifully situated  to  overlook  the  country  to  a  great  distance,  up  and 
down  both  rivers;  there  is  on  its  top  the  remains  of  a  wall,  formed 
of  earth,  stone  and  wood, which  runs  round  the  whole,  exactly  on 
the  brow.  The  wood  is  decayed  and  turned  to  mould,  yet  it  is 
traceable,  and  easily  distinguished  from  the  natural  earth:  within 
is  a  deep  ditch  or  entrenchment,  running  round  the  whole  summit. 
From  this  it  is  evident  that  a  war  was  once  waged  here;  and  were 
we  to  conjecture  between  whom,  we  should  say  between  the  In- 
dians and  Scandinavians,  and  that  this  fortification,  so  advantage- 
ously chosen,  is  of  the  same  class  of  defensive  works  with  those 
about  Onondaga,  Auburn,  and  the  lakes  Ontario,  Cayuga,  Seneca, 
Oneida  and  Erie.  As  it  is  not  pretended  that  the  Scandinavians 
made  settlements  on  the  continent  earlier  than  950,  there  cannot 
be  a  doubt  but  they  had  to  fight  their  way  among  the  Indians, 
more  or  less,  the  same  as  we  did,  when  first  we  colonized  the 
coast  of  the  Atlantic,  along  the  seaboard  of  the  New-En  gland 
States. 

But  as  these  Scandinavians,  Norwegians,  Scotch  and  Welch 
were  fewer  in  number  than  the  Indians,  and  without  the  means  of 
recruiting  from  the  mother  country,  as  was  our  case,  they  at 
length  fell  a  prey  to  this  enemy,  or  became  amalgamated  with 
them,  and  so  were  lost,  the  traces  of  whom  appear  now  an  I  then 
among  the  tribes,  as  we  have  shown. 


1260  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIE8 

Wc  are  strongly  inclined  to  believe  the  following  articles,  found 
in  the  town  of  Pompey,  Onondaga  county,  New-York,  are  of 
Scandinavian  origin.  In  Pompey,  on  lot  No.  14,  is  the  site  of  an 
ancient  burying  ground,  upon  which,  when  the  country  was  first 
.settled, was  fcund  timber  growing  apparently  of  the  second  growth, 
judging  from  the  old  timber  reduced  to  mould,  lying  round,  which 
was  one  hundred  years  old,  ascertained  by  counting  the  concen- 
tric grains.  In  one  of  these  graves  was  found  a  glass  bottle  about 
the  size  of  a  common  junk  bottle,  having  a.  stopple  in  its  nuzzle, 
and  in  the  bottle  was  a  liquid  of  some  sort,  but  was  tasteless. 

But  is  it  possible  that  the  Scandinavians  could  have  had  glass 
in  their  possession  at  so  early  a  period  as  the  year  950  and  there- 
about, so  as  to  have  brought  it  with  them  from  Europe  when  their 
first  settlements  were  made  in  this  country  ?  We  see  no  good 
reason  why  not,  as  glass  had  been  known  three  hundred  years  in 
Europe  before  the  northern  Europeans  are  reputed  to  have  found 
this  country,  the  art  of  making  glass  having  been  discovered  in 
A.  D.  664.  But  in  other  parts  of  the  world,  glass  had  been  known 
from  time  immemorial,  even  from  the  flood,  as  it  has  been  found 
in  the  tower  of  Babel.  It  is  found  in  the  cities  of  Pompeii  and 
Herculaneum,  which  were  buried  by  an  eruption  of  Vesuvius  ; 
and  it  is  mentioned  in  Job  37,  18, who  lived  about  sixteen  hundred 
years  B.  C.  Yet  glass  was  invented,  or  the  way  to  make  it  found 
out  in  England,  by  a  Monk,  in  664.  In  the  same  grave  with  the 
bottle  was  found  an  iron  hatchet,  edged  with  steel.  The  eye,  or 
place  for  the  helve, was  round,  and  extended  or  projected  out,  like 
the  ancient  Swiss  or  German  axe. 

On  lot  No.  9,  in  the  same  town, was  another  aboriginal  burying 
ground,  covered  with  forest  trees,  as  the  other.  In  the  same  town, 
on  lot  No.  17,  were  found  the  remains  of  a  blacksmith's  forge;  at 
ihis  spot  have  been  ploughed  up  crucibles,  such  as  mineralogists 
use  in  refining  metals. 

These  axes  are  similar,  and  correspond  in  character  with  those 
found  in  the  nitrous  caves  on  the  Gasconade  river,  which  empties 
into  the  Missouri,  as  mentioned  in  Prof.  Beck's  Gazetteer  of  that 
country.  In  the  same  town  are  the  remains  of  two  ancient  forts 
or  fortifications,  with  redoubts  of  a  very  extensive  and  formida- 
ble character.  Within  the  range  of  these  works  have  been  found 
pieces  of  cast  iron,  broken  from  some  vessel  of  considerable 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  261 

thickness.  These  articles  cannot  well  be  ascribed  to  the  era 
of  the  French  war,  as  time  enough  since  then,  till  the  region 
round  about  Onondaga  was  commenced  to  be  cultivated,  had 
not  elapsed  to  give  the  growth  of  timber  found  on  the  spot,, 
of  the  age  above  noticed  ;  and,  added  to  this,  it  is  said  that  the 
Indians  occupying  that  tract  of  country  had  no  tradition  of  their 
authors. 

The  reader  will  recollect,  a  few  pages  back,  that  we  have  noticed 
the  discovery  of  a  place  called  Estotiland,  supposed  to  be  Nova 
Scotia,  in  1354,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were  Europeans,  who 
cultivated  grain,  lived  in  stone  houses,  and  manufactured  beer,  as 
in  Europe  at  that  day.  Now,  from  the  year  1354,  till  the  time 
of  the  first  settlements  made  in  Onondaga  county,  by  the  present 
inhabitants,  is  about  400  years.  Is  it  not  possible,  therefore,  that 
this  glass  bottle,  with  some  kind  of  liquor  in  it,  may  have  been 
derived  from  this  Estotiland,  having  been  originally  brought  from 
Europe;  as  glass  had  been  in  use  there,  more  or  less,  from  the 
year  664,  till  the  Scandinavians  colonized  Iceland,  Greenland,. 
and  Estotiland,  or  Newfoundland.  The  hatchets  or  iron  axes 
found  here,  were  likely  of  the  same  origin  with  the  pieces  of  cast 
iron.  In  ploughing  the  earth,  digging  wells,  canals,  or  excavat- 
ing for  salt  waters,  about  the  lakes,  new  discoveries  are  frequently 
made,  which  as  clearly  show  the  operations  of  ancient  civilizations 
here,  as  the  works  of  the  present  race  would  do,  were  they  left 
to  the  operations  of  time  for  five  or  six  hundred  years;  especially 
were  this  country  totally  to  be  overrun  by  the  whole  consolidated 
savage  tribes  of  the  west,  exterminating  both  the  worker  and  his. 
works,  as  appears  to  have  been  done  in  ages  past. 

In  Scipio,  on  Salmon  creek,  a  Mr.  Halsted  has,  from  time  to 
time,  during  ten  years  past,  ploughed  up,  on  a  certain  extent  of 
land  on  his  farm,  seven  or  eight  hundred  pounds  of  brass,  which 
appeared  to  have  once  been  formed  into  various  implements,  both 
of  husbandry  and  war;  helmets  and  working  utensils  mingled  to- 
gether. 

The  finder  of  this  brass,  we  are  informed,  as  he  discovered  it 
carried  it  to  Auburn,  and  sold  it  by  the  pound,  where  it  was  worked 
up,  with  as  little  curiosity  attending  as  though  it  had  been  but  an 
ordinary  article  of  the  country's  produce:  when,  if  it  had  been 
announced  in  some  public  manner,  the  finder  would  have  doubt 


262  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

lesa  been  highly  rewarded  by  some  scientific  individual  or  society, 
and  preserved  it  in  the  cabinets  of  the  antiquarian,  as  a  relic  of 
by-gone  ages  of  the  highest  interest.  On  this  field,  where  it  was 
found,  the  forest  timber  was  growing  as  abundantly,  and  had  at- 
tained to  as  great  age  and  size,  as  elsewhere  in  the  heavy  timber- 
ed country  of  the  lakes. 

From  the  above  account,  we  cannot  resist  the  conclusion  that 
on  this  farm  in  Scipio,  was  situated  an  European  village  of 
Danes,  or  Welch,  who  were  cut  off  and  exterminated  by  the  for- 
tunes of  war,  some  hundred  years  before  the  discovery  of  Ameri- 
ca by  Columbus,  when  it  is  likely  their  town  was  destroyed  by 
the  fire  of  the  enemy,  their  articles  of  brass  broken  in  pieces, 
and  in  the  course  of  ages  became  buried  by  the  earth,  by  the  in- 
crease of  vegetable  mould,  ami  the  growth  of  the  wilderness.  If, 
then,  we  have  discovered  the  traits  of  a  clan  or  village  of  Euro- 
peans, who  had  a  knowledge  of  the  use  of  brass  and  iron,  as  the 
Danes  certainly  had,  long  before  they  colonized  Iceland,  Green- 
land and  Labrador,  why  not  be  allowed  to  conjecture,  nay  more, 
to  believe,  that  many  others  in  different  parts  overspread  the 
lake  country  to  a  gi'eat  extent. 

On  the  Black  river,  running  from  the  northern  part  of  the  state 
of  New-York,  into  lake  Ontario,  a  man  was  digging  a  well, 
when  at  the  depth  of  several  feet  he  came  to  a  quantity  of  China 
and  Delph  ware.  This  is  equally  surprising  with  the  field  of 
brass.  A  Mr.  Thomas  Lee  discovered,  not  long  since,  on  his 
farm,  in  Tompkins  county,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  the  entire 
iron  works  of  a  wagon,  reduced  to  rust.  From  this  discovery 
much  might  be  conjectured  respecting  the  state  of  cultivation,  as 
a  wagon  denotes  not  only  a  knowledge  of  the  mechanic  arts, 
equal,  perhaps,  in  that  respect,  with  the  present  times;  but  also 
that  roads  existed,  or  a  wagon  could  not  have  traversed  the  coun- 
try. That  the  wagon  was  brought  there  by  the  Spaniards,  who 
it  is  said,  very  soon  after  the  discovery  of  America,  explored  these 
northern  regions,  in  quest  of  minerals,  is  not  likely  because  roads  at 
that  time  did  not  exist;  and  for  the  same  reason  none  of  the  first 
settlers  of  the  New-England  coast  had  penetrated  so  far  in  the 
wilds  with  a  wagon  as  to  give  time  for  it  to  rust  entirely  away  be- 
fore the  first  settlement  of  the  western  country. 

If  one    wagon   existed,    there   were  doubtless   many  ;    w  hich 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  263 

^plainly  shows  a  civilized  state  of  things,  with  all  the  conveniences 
of  an  agricultural  life,  which  would  also  require  towns  and  places 
of  resort — as  market  places  for  produce — or  a  wagon  could  not 
have  been  of  any  use  to  the  owner.  Anvils  of  iron  have  been 
found  in  Pompey,  in  the  same  quarter  of  the  country  with  the 
other  discoveries,  as  above  related;  which  we  should  naturally 
expect  to  find,  or  it  might  be  inquired  how  could  axes,  and  the 
iron  works  of  wagons,  be  manufactured?  On  the  flats  of  the 
Genesee  river,  on  the  land  of  Mr.  Liberty  Judd,  was  found  a  bit 
of  silver,  about  the  length  of  a  man's  finger,  hammered  to  a  point 
at  one  end,  while  the  other  was  square  and  smooth,  on  which 
were  cut,  or  engraved  figures,  the  year  of  our  Lord  600.  The 
discovery  of  the  remains  of  a  wagon,  as  above  stated,  goes  also 
to  prove  that  some  kind  of  animal  must  have  been  domesticated 
to  draw  it  with.  The  horse,  it  is  said,  was  not  known  in  Ameri- 
ca till  the  Spaniards  introduced  it  from  Europe,  after  the  time  of 
its  discovery  by  Columbus,  which  has  multiplied  prodigously  on 
the  innumerable  wilds  and  prairies  of  both  South  and  North 
America;  yet  the  track  of  a  horse  is  found  on  a  mountain  of 
Tennessee,  in  the  rock  of  the  enchanted  mountain,  as  before 
related,  and  shows  that  horses  were  known  in  America  in  the 
earliest  ages  after  the  flood:  other  evidence  that  horses  have  ex- 
isted here  before  those  of  the  Spaniards  can  be  shown.  It  is 
likely,  however,  that  the  Danes,  who  are  believed  once  to  have 
occupied  the  whole  lake  country,  had  domesticated  the  buffalo 
and  moose,  as  other  nations  have  done,  by  which  they  were 
aided  in  agricultural  pursuits,  as  we  are  now  by  the  ox. 


A  Further  Account  of  Western  Antiquities. 

But  as  to  the  state  of  the  arts  among  the  more  ancient  nations 
of  America,  some  idea  may  be  gathered  from  what  has  been  al- 
ready said.  That  they  manufactured  brick  of  a  good  quality,  is 
known  from  the  discoveries  made  on  opening  their  tumuli,  and 
from  the  newly  discovered  foundations  of  a  brick  city  in  Arkan- 
sas, as  before  shown.  A  vast  many  instances  of  articles  made 
of  copper  and  sometimes  plated  with  silver,  have  been  met  with 


264  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

on  opening  their  works.  Circular  pieces  of  copper,  intended? 
either  as  medals  or  breast  plates,  have  been  found,  several  inches 
in  diameter,  very  much  injured  by  time.  In  several  tumuli,  the 
remains  of  knives,  and  even  ©f  swords,  in  the  form  of  rust,  have 
been  discovered. 

"  Mirrors  made  of  isinglass,  have  been  found  in  as  many  as 
fifty  places,  within  my  own  knowledge,  says  Mr.  Atwater,  besides 
the  large  and  very  elegant  one  at  Circle ville.  From  the  great 
thickness  of  those  mica  membranacea  mirrors,  they  answered  the 
purpose  for  which  they  were  made  very  well.  Along  the  Ohio, 
where  the  river  is,  in  many  places,  wearing  and  washing  away 
its  banks,  hearths  and  fire  places  are  brought  to  light,  two,  four, 
and  even  six  feet  below  the  surface,  these  are  also  found  on  the 
banks  of  Muskingum,  at  its  mouth,  and  at  Point  Harman,  oppo- 
site Marietta.  Two  stone  covers  of  stone  vessels,  were  found  in 
a  stone  mound,  in  Ross  county,  in  Ohio,  ingeniously  wrought  and 
highly  polished.  These  covers  resembled  almost  exactly,  and 
were  quite  equal  to  vessels  of  that  material  manufactured  in  Italy 
at  the  present  time. 

An  urn  was  found  in  a  mound,  a  few  miles  from  Chilicothe, 
which,  a  few  years  since,  was  in  the  hands  of  a  Mr.  J.  W.  Collet, 
who  lived  in  that  place,  about  a  foot  high,  and  well  proportioned; 
it  very  much  resembles  one  found  in  a  similar  work  in  Scotland, 
mentioned  in  Pennant's  Tour,  vol.  1,  p.  154.  It  contained  arrow 
heads,  ashes  and  calcined  or  burnt  human  bones.  In  digging  a 
trench  on  the  Sandusky  river,  in  alluvial  earth,  at  a  depth  of  six 
feet,  was  found  a  pipe,  which  displays  great  taste  in  its  execution. 
The  rim  of  the  bowl  is  in  high  relief,  and  the  front  represents  a 
beautiful  female  face.  The  stone  of  which  is  made  is  the  real 
talc  gra-phique,  exactly  resembling  the  stone  of  which  the  Chinese 
make  their  idols.  No  talc  of  this  species  is  known  to  exist  on 
the  west  side  of  the  Alleghanies;  it  must  therefore  have  been 
brought,  at  some  remote  period,  from  some  other  part  of  the 
world.  Fragments  of  fishing  nets  and  moccasins,  or  shoes  made 
of  a  species  of  weed,  have  been  found  in  the  nitrous  caves  of 
Kentucky.  The  mummies  which  have  been  found  in  these 
places,  were  wrapped  in  a  coarse  species  of  linen  cloth,  of  about 
the  consistency  and  texture  of  cotton  bagging.  It  was  evidently 
woven  by  the  same  kind  of  process  which  is  practised  in  the  in- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WE8T.  265 

terior  of  Africa.  The  warp  being  extended  by  some  slight  kind 
of  machinery,  the  woof  was  passed  across  it,  then  twisted,  every 
two  threads  of  warp  together,  before  the  second  passage  of  the 
filling.  This  seems  to  have  been  the  first  rude  method  of  weav- 
ing in  Asia,  Africa  and  America.  A  second  envelope  of  these 
mummies,  is  a  kind  of  net  work,  of  coarse  threads,  formed 
of  very  small  loose  meshes,  in  which  were  fixed  the  feathers 
of  various  kinds  of  birds,  so  as  to  make  a  perfectly  smooth 
surface,  lying  all  in  one  direction.  The  art  of  this  manu- 
facure  was  well  understood  in  Mexico,  and  still  exists  in  the 
northwest  coast  of  America,  and  in  the  Pacific  islands.  The 
third  and  outer  envelope  of  these  mummies,  is  either  like  the 
one  first  described,  or  consists  of  leather,  sewed  together. — Am- 
Antq    Soc. 

The  manufacture  of  leather  from  the  hides  of  animals  is  a  very 
ancient  invention,  known  to  almost  all  the  nations  of  the  earth; 
but  to  fiind  it  in  America,  wrapped  around  mummies,  as  in  seve- 
ral instances  found  in  nitrous  caves,  and  the  Kentucky  caverns, 
shows  a  knowledge  of  a  branch  of  the  arts,  in  the  possession  of 
the  people  of  America,  at  an  era  coeval  with  the  Egyptians — as 
the  art  of  embalming  is  found  in  connection  with  that  of  tanning 
the  skins  of  animals. 

Among  the  vast  variety  of  discoveries  made  in  the  mounds,, 
tumuli  and  fortifications  of  these  people  have  been  found, 
not  only  hatchets  made  of  stone;  but  axes  as  large,  and  much  of 
the  same  shape  with  those  made  of  iron  at  the  present  day;  also 
pickaxes  and  pestles,  (see  plate  Nos.  11  and  12,)  with  various 
other  instruments,  made  of  stone.  But  besides,  there  have  been 
found  very  well  manufactured  swords  and  knives  of  iron,  and 
possibly  steel,  says  Mr.  Atwater:  from  which  we  are  to  conclude, 
that  the  primitive  people  of  America,  either  discovered  the  use  of 
iron  themselves,  as  the  Greeks  did,  or  that  they  learned  its  use 
from  this  cirenmstance;  or  that  they  carried  a  knowledge  of  this 
ore  with  them  at  the  time  of  their  dispersion;  as  received  from 
Noah's  family,  who  brought  it  from  beyond  the  flood,  discovered 
in  or  before  the  days  of  Tubal  Cain,  which  was  only  about  five 
hundred  years  after  the  creation.  Dr.  Clarke  says,  that  from  the 
manufacture  of  certain  articles  in  the  wilderness  by  the  Israelites, 
iron,  and  even  steel  must  have  been  knoivn,  which  was  an  age  pre 


1266  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ceding  its  knowledge  by  the  Greeks,  nearly  a  hundred  years.  If 
this  was  so,  it  follows  that  they  must  have  learned  it,  or  rather 
they  must  have  taken  these  very  instruments  of  iron  and  steel 
when  they  left  Egypt;  as  they  had  no  means  of  making  such  in- 
struments from  the  ore,  in  the  wilderness. 


Great  Stone  Castle  in  Iceland. 


In  Iceland,  which  is  not  far  from  Greenland,  and  Greenland  is 
not  far  from  the  coast  of  America,  has  been  found  the  remains  of 
ancient  architecture,  of  no  less  dimensions  than  200  rods  in  cir- 
cumference, built  of  stone,  the  wall  of  which,  in  some  places,  as 
related  by  Van  Troil,  was  50  feet  high.  This  was  a  Norwegian 
castle,  of  wonderful  strength  and  magnitude,  and  of  the  same 
character  with  ruins  found  in  this  country,  and  in  South  America. 
Iceland  is  but  120  miles  east  of  Greenland,  and  Greenland  is 
supposed  to  be  connected  with  America  far  to  the  north.  This 
island  is  considerably  larger  than  the  state  of  New-York,  being 
400  miles  in  length,  and  270  in  breadth.  It  was  discovered  by  a 
Norwegian  pirate,  named  Nrrdoddr,  in  the  year  861,  as  he  was 
driven  out  to  sea  by  an  eastern  storm,  on  his  way  from  Norway, 
which  is  the  northern  part  of  Europe,  to  the  Feroe  islands. 

Soon  after  this,  in  the  year  870,  it  was  colonized  from  Norway 
under  the  direction  of  a  man  named  Ingalf,  and  sixty  years  after, 
which  would  bring  it  to  930,  the  whole  island  was  inhabited;  but 
they  were  without  any  regular  government,  being  distracted  with 
the  wars  of  several  chiefs  for  a  long  series  of  years,  during  which 
Iceland  was  a  scene  of  rapine  and  butchery.  It  is  natural  to  sup- 
pose, during  such  conflicts,  many  families,  from  time  to  time, 
would  leave  the  island,  in  quest  of  some  other  dwelling.  This 
was  in  their  power  to  do,  as  they  had  a  knowledge  of  navigation 
in  a  good  degree,  derived  from  the  Romans,  at  the  time  they  ruled 
the  most  of  Europe,  900  years  before. 

That  Greenland,  or  countries  lying  west  of  Iceland,  existed, 
could  not  but  be  known  to  the  Icelanders  from  the  flights  of  birds 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  267 

of  passage,  and  from  drift  wood,  which,  to  this  day,  is  driven  in 
large  quantities  from  America,  by  the  gulf  stream,  and  deposited 
on  the  western  coast  of  that  island. — (Morse.) 

In  this  way,  it  is  highly  probable,  the  first  Europeans  found 
their  way  here,  and  became  the  authors  of  those  vast  ruins 
built  of  stone,  found  in  various  parts  of  America.  The  language 
of  the  Icelanders  is,  even  now,  after  so  long  a  lapse  of  ages, 
much  the  same  with  that  spoken  in  Sweden,  Denmark,  and 
Norway — so  that  they  understand  the  most  ancient  traditional 
history  of  their  ancestors.  The  characters  they  made  use  of  were 
Runic,  and  were  but  sixteen  in  number.  But,  about  the  year 
1000,  the  Latin  or  Roman  letters  superseded  the  use  of  the  ancient 
Runic. 

Dr.  Morse  says  the  arts  and  sciences  were  extensively  cultiva- 
ted in  Norway,  at  the  time  when  Iceland  was  first  settled  by 
them  ;  and  while  the  traces  of  literature  were  diminished,  and  at 
length  destroyed  in  Norway,  by  the  troubles  which  shook  the 
the  whole  north  of  Europe  for  several  ages;  they  were,  on  the 
contrary,  carefully  preserved  in  Iceland. 
'  From  this  we  may  safely  infer  that  America,  having  received 
its  first  European  colonies  from  Iceland, who  had  not  only  a  know- 
ledge of  architecture,  in  a  degree,  but  of  navigation  also, with  that 
of  science;  that  in  the  very  regions  where  villas,  cities,  cultivated 
fields,  roads,  canals,  rail-ways,  with  all  the  glory  of  the  present 
age,  exist  along  the  Atlantic  coast,  also  flourished  the  works  of  a 
former  population — the  Danes,  Swedes  and  Norwegians,  civilized 
nations,  centuries  before  Columbus  was  born,  but  who  have  passed 
away  by  the  means  of  wars  with  the  more  ancient  nations  of  Ame- 
rica, or  with  the  common  enemy  of  both,  the  Tartar  hordes  from 
Asia,  now  called  the  American  Indians,  leaving  forever  the  labor 
of  ages,  which  here  and  there  are  discovered,  the  relics  of  their 
architectural  knowledge. 

One  hundred  and  twenty-one  years  after  the  discovery  of  Ice- 
land, Greenland  was  discovered  also,  by  the  Norwegians,  who 
planted  a  colony  there  ;  and  in  a  little  time  after,  the  country 
was  provided  with  two  Christian  churches  and  bishops  ;  between 
which  and  Norway,  the  mother  country,  a  considerable  amount 
of  commerce  was  carried  on,  till  1406 — a  lapse  of  years  amount- 
ing to  about  483,  before  the  discovery  of  America  by  Columbus  ; 


268  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

when  all  intercourse  between  the  two  countries  ceased,  occa- 
sioned probably  by  the  convulsions  and  wars  of  Europe  at  that 
period. 

The  whole  of  that  population,  it  is  supposed,  was  lost,  as  no 
traces  of  them  are  found.  The  climate  of  that  region,  as  is 
evident,  has  since  undergone  a  great  change,  from  an  accumu- 
lation of  ice  and  snow,  from  the  Northern  sea,  so  as  to  render 
the  coast,  where  those  settlements  were,  wholly  inaccessible. — 
(Morse.) 

Is  it  not  possible  that  as  they  found  the  severity  of  the  weather 
increasing  rapidly  upon  them,  they  may  have  removed  to  the  coast 
of  Labrador,  and  from  thence  down  the  coast  till  they  came  to  the 
region  of  the  Canadas,  where  are  discovered  the  traces  of  ancient 
nations,  in  vast  lines  of  fortifications,  as  attested  to  by  the  most 
approved  authority,  Humboldt  and  others  1 


A  Description  of  Instruments  found  in  the  Tumuli. 

In  removing  the  earth  which  composed  an  ancient  mound,  situ- 
ated where  now  one  of  the  streets  of  Marietta  runs,  several  curi- 
ous articles  were  discovered  in  1819.  They  appear  to  have  been 
buried  with  the  body  of  the  person  to  whose  memory  this  mound 
was  erected. 

Lying  immediately  on  the  forehead  of  this  skeleton, were  found 
three  large  circular  ornaments,  which  had  adorned  a  sword  belt, 
or  buckler,  and  were  composed  of  copper,  overlaid  with  a  plate  of 
silver.  The  fronts,  or  show  sides,  were  slightly  convex,  with  a 
deep  depression,  like  a  cup  in  the  centre,  and  measured  two  inches 
and  a  quarter  across  the  face  of  each.  On  the  back  side,  oppo- 
site the  depressed  portion,  is  a  copper  rivet,  around  which  are  two 
separate  plates,  by  which  they  were  fastened  to  the  leather  belt. 
The  two  pieces  of  leather  resembled  the  skin  of  a  mummy,  and 
seemed  to  have  been  preserved  by  the  salts  of  the  copper.  The 
plates  were  nearly  reduced  to  an  oxyde  or  rust;  the  silver  looked 


AND    DISC0VERIE8    IN    THE    WE8T.  269 

quite  black,  but  was  not  much  corroded,  as  on  rubbing  it  became 
bright  and  clear. 

Around  one  of  the  rivets  was  a  small  quantity  of  what  ap- 
peared to  be  flax  or  hemp,  in  a  tolerable  state  of  preservation. 
Near  the  side  of  the  body  was  found  a  plate  of  silver,  which  ap^ 
peared  to  have  been  the  upper  part  of  a  sicord  scabbard.  It  was 
six  inches  long,  and  two  broad,  with  two  longitudinal  ridges, 
which  probably  corresponded  with  the  edges  or  ridges  of  the 
sword  once  sheathed  by  it,  and  appeared  to  have  been  fastened  to 
the  scabbard  by  several  rivets,  the  holes  of  which  remain  in  the 
plate. 

Two  or  three  pieces  of  a  copper  tube  were  also  found  with  this 
body,  filled  with  iron  rust.  The  pieces,  from  their  appearances, 
composed  the  lower  end  of  the  scabbard,  near  the  point  of  the 
sword,  but  no  sign  of  the  sword  itself,  except  a  streak  of  rust  its 
whole  length. 

We  learn  from  this  that  the  person  who  was  buried  there  was  a 
warrior,  as  the  sword  declares;  and  also  that  the  people  of  whom 
he  was  an  individual,  were  acquainted  with  the  arts  of  civilized 
life,  which  appears  from  the  sheath,  the  flax,  the  copper  and  the 
silver,  but  more  especially  as  the  silver  was  plated  on  the  copper. 
Near  the  feet  was  found  a  piece  of  copper  weighing  three  ounces, 
which  from  its  shape  appeared  to  have  been  used  as  a  plumb,  as 
near  one  of  the  ends  is  a  crease  or  groove,  for  tying  a  thread;  it 
is  round,  and  two  inches  and  a  half  in  length,  one  inch  in  diame- 
ter at  the  centre,  and  an  half  inch  at  the  small  or  upper  end.  It 
was  composed  of  small  pieces  of  native  copper,  pounded  together, 
and,  in  the  cracks  between  the  pieces,  were  stuck  several  bits  of 
silver,  one  nearly  the  size  of  a  sixpence.  This  copper  plumb 
was  covered  with  a  coat  of  green  rust,  and  was  considerably  cor- 
roded. A  piece  of  red  ochre,  or  paint,  and  a  piece  of  iron  ore, 
which  had  the  appearance  of  having  been  partly  vitrified,  or 
melted,  was  also  found  in  this  tumulus:  the  bit  of  ore  was  nearly 
pure  iron. 

The  body  of  the  person  here  buried,  was  laid  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth,  with  his  face  upwards,  and  his  feet  pointing  to  the 
northeast,  and  his  head  to  the  southwest 

From  the  appearance  of  several  pieces  of  charcoal  and  bits  of 
partially  burnt  wood,  and  the  black  color  of  the  earth,  it  would 


270  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

appear  that  the  funeral  obsequies  had  been  celebrated  by  fire,  and 
that  while  the  ashes  were  yet  hot  and  smoking,  a  circle  of  flat 
stones  had  been  laid  around  and  over  the  body,  from  which  the 
tumulus  had  been  carried  up. 

For  a  view  of  each  article,  the  render  can  refer  to  the  Frontis- 
piece engraving,  by  observing  the  numbering  of  each  specimen. 
Nos.  1,  2,  3,  4,  5  and  6,  are  articles  found  in  the  mound  at  Mari- 
etta, in  1819. 

No.  1.  Back  view  of  the  silver  ornament  for  a  sword  scab- 
bard. 

No.  2.  Front  view  of  the  same. 

No.  3.  Front  view  of  an  ornament  for  a  belt,  with  a  silver 
face. 

No.  4.  Back  view  of  the  same  ornament,  of  copper. 

No.  5.  A  plumb  or  pendant,  formed  of  pieces  of  copper  pounded 
together,  leaving  fissures  or  openings,  which  were  filled  with  bits 
of  silver;  an  implement,  as  to  its  shape,  resembling  the  instruments 
used  by  carpenters  and  masons,  now-a-days,  to  ascertain  perpen- 
diculars with,  and  was  doubtless  used  by  these  ancients  for  the 
same  purpose. 

No.  6.  A  stone,  with  seven  holes,  like  a  screw  plate,  fourteen 
inches  long,  finely  polished,  and  very  hard.  This,  however,  was 
not  found  in  the  mound,  but  in  a  field  near  this  tumulus. 

Letter  A  represents  a  small  keg  in  its  construction,  and  a  tea- 
kettle, in  the  use  of  which  it  seems  to  have  been  put,  which  is  in- 
dicated by  its  spout,  and  appears  to  have  been  made  of  a  compo- 
sition of  clay  and  shells. 

Letter  B  represents  the  idol  before  spoken  of,  on  pages  217  and 
218,  in  three  views,  a  front,  side  and  back  view. 

Letter  C  represents  the  idol,  or  image  of  stone,  on  page  219. 

Letter  D  is  the  stone,  or  Shal.gr amu,  described  on  pages  180, 
181  and  182 

Letter  E  represents  the  triune  cvp,  found  on  the  Cany  fork  of 
Cumberland  liver,  in  an  ancient  work,  about  four  feet  below  the 
surface.  The  drawing  is  an  exact  likeness,  taken  originally  by 
Miss  Sarah  Clifford,  of  Lexington,  Kentucky;  it  is  by  some  called 
the  triune  idol. 

The  object  itself  may  be  thus  described  :  it  consists  of  three 
heads,  joined  together  at  the  back  part,  near  the  top,  by  a  stem  or 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  271 

handle,  which  rises  above  the  head  about  three  inches  :  this  stem 
is  hollow,  six  inches  in  circumference  at  the  top,  increasing  in 
size  as  it  descends.  The  heads  are  all  of  the  same  dimensions, 
being  about  four  inches  from  the  top  to  the  chin.  The  face,  at 
the  eyes,  is  three  inches  broad,  decreasing  in  breadth  all  the  way 
to  the  chin.  All  the  strong  marks  of  the  Tartar  countenance  are 
distinctly  preserved  and  expressed  with  so  much  skill,  that  even  a 
modern  artist  might  be  proud  of  the  performance.  The  counte- 
nances are  all  different  from  each  other,  and  denote  one  old  per- 
son and  two  younger  ones. 

The  face  of  the  oldest  is  painted  around  the  eyes  with  yellow, 
shaded  with  a  streak  of  the  same  color,  beginning  from  the  top  of 
the  ear,  running  in  a  semicircular  form  to  the  ear  on  the  other  side 
of  the  head.  Another  painted  line  begins  at  the  lower  part  of  the 
eye,  and  runs  down  before  each  ear,  about  one  inch. — (See  the 
right  hand  figure  on  the  cup,  or  image  on  frontispiece.)  The  face 
engraved  alone,'  is  the  back  view,  and  represents  a  person  of  a 
grave  countenance,  but  much  younger  than  the  preceding  one, 
painted  very  differently,  and  of  a  different  color.  A  streak  of  red- 
ish  brown  surrounds  each  eye.  Another  line  of  the  same  color, 
beginning  at  the  top  of  one  ear,  passes  under  the  chin,  and  ends  at 
the  top  of  the  other  ear.  The  ears  also  are  slightly  tinged  with  the 
same  color. 

The  third  figure  resembles  the  others,  representing  one  of  the 
Tartar  family  The  whole  of  the  face  is  slightly  tinged  with  ver- 
million,  or  some  paint  resembling  it.  Each  cheek  has  a  spot  on 
it  of  the  size  of  a  quarter  of  a  dollar,  brightly  tinged  with  the  same 
paint:  on  the  chin  is  a  similar  spot.  One  circumstance  worthy 
of  remark  is,  that  though  these  colors  may  have  been  expo- 
sed to  the  damp  earth  many  centuries,  they  have  notwithstanding 
preserved  every  shade  in  all  its  brilliancy. 

This  triune  vessel  stands  on  three  legs,  which  are  about  an 
inch  and  a  half  in  length.  The  whole  is  composed  of  a  fine  clay 
of  a  light  umber  color,  which  has  been  rendered  hard,  by  the  ac- 
tion of  fire.  The  heads  are  hollow,  and  the  vessel  is  of  capacity 
to  hold  about  one  quart. 

Does  not  this  cup  represent  the  three  gods  of  India — Brahma, 
Vishnoo  and  Siva?  Let  the  reader  look  at  the  plate  representing 
this  vessel,  and  consult  the  Asiatic  Researches,  by  Sir  William 


272  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Jones ;  let  him  also  read  Buchanan's  Star  in  the  East,  and  ac- 
counts there  found  of  the  idolatry  of  the  Hindoos,  and  he  cannot 
fail  to  see  in  this  idol  one  proof  at  least  that  the  people  who  raised 
our  ancient  works  were  idolaters,  and  that  some  of  them  worship- 
ped gods  resembling  the  three  principal  deities  of  India.  What 
tends  to  strengthen  this  inference  is,  that  nine  murex  shells,  the 
same  as  described  by  SirWilliam  Jones  in  his  Asiatic  Researches, 
and  by  Symmes,  in  his  Embassy  to  Ava,  have  been  found  within 
twenty  miles  of  Lexington,  Kentucky,  in  an  ancient  work." — 
(Atwater.) 

The  murex  shell  is  a  sea  shell  fish  out  of  which  the  ancients  pro- 
cured the  famous  Tyrian  purple  dye,  which  was  the  color  of  the 
royal  robes  of  kings,  so  celebrated  in  ancient  times.  Their  com- 
ponent parts  remain  unchanged,  and  they  were  in  every  way  in 
an  excellent  state  of  preservation.  These  shells,  so  rare  in  India, 
are  highly  esteemed,  and  consecrated  to  their  god,  Mahadeva, 
whose  character  is  the  same  with  the  Neptune  of  Greece  and 
Rome.  This  shell,  among  the  Hindoos,  is  the  musical  instrument 
of  their  Tritons,  (sea  gods,  or  trumpeters  of  Neptune.)  Those, 
of  the  kind  discovered  as  above,  are  deposited  in  the  museum,  at 
Lexington.  The  foot  of  the  Siamese  god  Gudma,  or  Boodh,  is 
represented  by  a  sculptured  statue,  in  Ava,  of  six  feet  in  length, 
a.nd  the  toes  of  this  god  are  carved,  each  to  represent  a  shell  of  the 
murex. 

These  shells  have  been  found  in  many  mounds  which  have  been 
opened  in  every  part  of  this  country;  and  this  is  a  proof  that  a 
considerable  value  was  set  upon  them  by  their  owners;  from  these 
discoveries  it  is  evident  that  the  people  who  built  the  ancient  works 
of  the  west  were  idolaters  :  it  is  also  inferred  from  the  age  of  the 
world  in  which  they  lived.  History,  sacred  and  profane,  affords 
the  fact  that  all  nations  except  the  Jews  were  idolaters  at  the  same 
times  and  ages. 

Medals,  representing  the  sun,  with  its  rays  of  light,  have  been 
found  in  the  mounds,  made  of  a  very  fine  clay,  and  colored  in  the 
composition,  before  it  was  hardened  by  heat,  from  which  it  is  in- 
ferred they  worshipped  the  sun.  It  is  also  supposed  that  they 
worshipped  the  moon,  both  from  their  semicircular  works,  which 
represent  the  new  moon,  and  also,  from  the  discovery  of  copper 
medals,  round  like  the  moon  in  its  full,  being  smooth,  without  any 


AND    DI&COVEiUES    IN    THE    WEST.  273 

rays  of  light,  like  those  which  represent  the  sun.  The  worship  of 
the  sun,  moon  and  stars  was  the  worship  of  many  nations  in  the 
earliest  ages,  not  only  soon  after  the  flood,  but  all  along,  cotem- 
porary  with  the  existence  of  the  Jews  as  a  nation,  and  also  suc- 
ceeding the  Christian  era,  and  till  the  present  time,  as  among  the 
pagan  Mexicans. 

Nos.  8,  9,  10,  11,  and  12,  represent  the  shapes  of  the  stone 
axes,  pestle,  and  other  articles  spoken  of  a  few  pages  back. — 
See  the  Plate. 

As  it  respects  the  scientific  acquirements  of  the  builders  of  the 
works  in  the  west,  now  in  ruins,  Mr.  Atwater  says,  "  when  tho- 
roughly examined,  have  furnished  matter  of  admiration  to  all  in- 
telligent persons,  who  have  attended  to  the  subject.  Nearly  all 
the  lines  of  ancient  works  found  in  the  whole  country,  where  the 
form  of  the  ground  admits  of  it,  are  right  ones,  pointing  to  the 
four  cardinal  points.  Where  there  are  mounds  enclosed,  the 
gateways  are  most  frequently  on  the  east  side  of  the  works,  to- 
wards the  rising  sun.  Where  the  situation  admits  of  it,  in  their 
military  works,  the  openings  are  generally  towards  one  or  more 
of  the  cardinal  points.  From  which  it  is  supposed  they  must 
have  had  some  knowledge  of  astronomy,  or  their  structures  would 
not,  it  is  imagined,  have  been  thus  arranged.  From  these  cir- 
cumstances also,  we  draw  the  conclusion,  that  the  first  inhabi- 
tants of  America,  emigrated  from  Asia,  at  a  period  coeval  with 
that  of  Babylon,  for  here  it  was  that  astronomical  calculations 
were  first  made,  2234  years  before  Christ. 

"  These  things  could  never  have  so  happened,  with  such  inva- 
riable exactness,  in  almost  all  cases,  without  design.  "  On  the 
whole,"  says  Atwater,  "  I  am  convinced  from  an  attention  to 
many  hundreds  of  these  works,  in  every  part  of  the  west  which 
I  have  visited,  that  their  authors  had  a  knowledge  of  astronomy." 

Our  ancient  works  continued  into  Mexico,  increasing  in  size 
and  grandeur,  preserving  the  same  forms,  and  appear  to  have 
been  put  to  the  same  uses.  The  form  of  our  works  is  round, 
square,  triangular,  semicircular  and  octangular,  agreeing,  in  all 
these  respects,  with  those  in  Mexico.  The  first  works  built  by 
the  Mexicans,  were  mostly  of  earth,  and  not  much  superior  to 
the  common  ones  on  the  Mississippi."  The  same  may  be  said  of 
the  works  of  tkis  sort  over  the  whole  earth,  which  is  the  evidence 

18 


274  AME-RICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

that  all  alike  belong  to  the  first  efforts  of  men,  in  the  very  first 
ages  after  the  flood. 

"  But  afterwards  temples  were  erected  on  the  elevated  squares, 
eircles,  &c,  but  were  still  like  ours,  surrounded  by  walls  of  earths 
These  sacred  places,  in  Mexico,  were  called  "  teocalli,"  which 
in  the  vernacular  tongue  of  the  most  ancient  tribe  of  Mexicans* 
signifies  "  mansions  of  the  gods."  They  included  within  their 
sacred  walls,  gardens,  fountains,  habitations  of  priests,  temples, 
altars,  and  magazines  of  arms.  This  circumstance  may  account 
for  many  things  which  have  excited  some  surprise  among  those 
who  have  hastily  visited  the  works  on  Paint  creek,  at  Portsmouth,. 
Maritetta,  Circleville,  Newark,  &c. 

It  is  doubted  by  many  to  what  use  these  works  were  put;  whe- 
ther they  were  used  as  forts,  camps,  cemeteries,  altars,  and  tem- 
ples; whereas  they  contained  all  these  either  within  their  walls; 
or  were  immediately  connected  with  them.  Many  persons  cannot 
imagine  why  the  works,  at  the  places  above  mentioned,  were 
so  extensively  complicated,  differing  so  much  in  form,  size,  and 
elevation,  among  themselves."  But  the  solution  is  undoubtedly, 
"they  contained  within  them,  altars,  temples  cemeteries,  habita- 
tions of  priests,  gardens,  wells,  fountains,  places  devoted  to  sac- 
red purposes,  of  various  kinds,  and  the  whole  of  their  warlike 
munitions,  laid  up  in  arsenals,  These  works  were  calculated  for 
defence,  and  were  resorted  to  in  cases  of  the  last  necessity, 
where  they  fought  with  desperation.  We  are  warranted  in  this 
conclusion,  by  knowing  that  these  works  are  exactly  similar  to 
the  most  ancient  now  t©  be  seen  in  Mexico,  connected  with  the 
fact,  that  the  Mexican  works  did  contain  within  them  all  that  we 
have  stated. 


Great  size  of  some  of  the  Mexican  Mounds. 

The  word  Teocalli,  Humboldt  says,  is  derived  from  the  name 
of  one  of  the  gods  to  which  they  were  dedicated,  Tezcatlipoca, 
the  Brahma  of  the  Mexicans.  The  pyramid  of  Cholula,  was 
seated  on  a  tumulus  with  four  stages,  and  was  dedicated  to  Que- 
tzalcotl,  one  of  the  mysterious  characters  that  appeared  among 


AN*>    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  275 

tlie  ancient  Mexicans,  said  to  have  been  a  white  and  bearded  man, 
before  spoken  of.  The  teocalli,  or  pyramid  of  Cholula,  is  sixty 
rods  in  circumference,  and  ten  rods  high.  In  the  vale  of  Mexico, 
twenty-four  miles  northeast  from  the  capital,  in  a  plain  that  bears 
the  name  of  Micoatl,  or  the  path  of  the  dead,  is  a  group  of  pyra- 
mids, of  several  hundred  in  number,  generally  about  thirty  feet 
high:  in  the  midst  of  these  are  two  large  pyramids,  one  dedicated  to 
the  sun,  the  other  to  the  moon;  the  sun  pyramid  is  ten  rods  thirteen 
feet  high,  and  its  length  nearly  thirty-five  rods,  and  of  a  propor- 
tionable thickness;  that  of  the  moon  is  eight  rods  and  eleven  feet 
in  perpendicular  height,  but  its  base  is  not  specified  by  Humboldt, 
from  whose  researches  we  have  derived  this  information.  The 
small  pyramids,  which  surrounded  the  two  dedicated  to  the  sun 
and  moon,  are  divided  by  spacious  streets,  running  exactly  north 
and  south,  east  and  west,  intersecting  each  other  at  right  angles, 
forming  one  grand  palace  of  worship,  and  of  the  dead.  It  is  the 
tradition  of  the  Mexicans,  that  in  the  small  tumuli,  or  pyramids, 
were  buried  the  chiefs  of  their  tribes.  We  also  here  ascertain 
that  the  builders  of  these  two  vast  houses  of  the  sun  and  moon  had 
indeed  a  knowledge  of  the  cardinal  points  of  the  compass,  for  this 
arrangement  could  never  have  taken  place  from  mere  chance — it 
must  have  been  the  result  of  calculation,  with  the  north  star,  or 
pole,  in  view.  On  the  top  of  those  teocallis,  were  two  colossal 
statues  of  the  sun  and  moon,  made  of  stone,  and  covered  with 
plates  of  gold,  of  which  they  were  stripped  by  the  soldiers  of 
Cortez.  Such  were  some  of  the- pyramids  of  Egypt,  with  colossal 
statues. 

This  tremendous  work  is  much  similar  to  one  found  in  Egypt, 
called  the  "Cheops  and  the  Mycerinus,"  round  about  which  were 
eight  small  pyramids;  only  the  Egyptian  work  is  much  less  than 
the  Mexican  one,  yet  their  fashion  is  the  same. 


Predilection  of  the  Ancients  to  Pyramids. 

In  those  early  ages  of  mankind,  it  is  evident  there  e.xisted  an 
Unaccountable  ambition  among  the  nations,  seemingly  to  outdo 


276  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIE8 

each  other  in  the  height  of  their  pyramids  ;  for  Humboldt  men- 
tions the  pyramids  of  Porsenna,  as  related  by  Varro,  styled  the 
most  learned  of  the  Romans,  who  flourished  about  the  time  of 
Christ;  and  says  there  were,  at  this  place,  four  pyramids,  eighty 
meters  in  height,  which  is  a  fraction  more  than  fifteen  rods  per- 
pendicular altitude;  the  meter  is  a  French  measure,  consisting  of 
3  feet  3  inches. 

Not  many  years  since  was  discovered,  by  some  Spanish  hun- 
ters, on  descending  the  Cordilleras,  towards  the  gulf  of  Mexico, 
in  the  thick  forest,  the  pyramid  of  Papantla.  The  form  of  this 
teocalli  or  pyramid,  which  had  seven  stories,  is  more  tapering 
than  any  other  monument  of  this  kind  yet  discovered,  but  its 
height  is  not  remarkable,  being  but  fifty-seven  feet — its  base  but 
twenty-five  feet  on  each  side.  However,  it  is  remarkable  on  one 
account:  it  is  built  entirely  of  hewn  stones,  of  an  extraordinary 
size,  and  very  beautifully  shaped.  Three  stair-cases  lead  to  its 
top,  the  steps  of  which  were  decorated  with  hieroglyphical  sculp- 
ture and  small  niches,  arranged  with  great  symmetry.  The  num- 
ber of  these  niches  seems  to  allude  to  the  318  simple  and  com- 
pound signs  of  the  days  of  their  civil  calendar.  If  so,  this  monu- 
ument  was  erected  for  astronomical  purposes.  Besides,  here  is 
evidence  of  the  use  of  metallic  tools,  in  the  preparation  and  build- 
ing of  this  temple. 

In  those  mounds  were  sometimes  hidden  the  treasures  of  kings 
and  chiefs,  placed  there  in  times  of  war  and  danger.  Such  was 
found  to  be  the  fact,  on  opening  the  tomb  of  a  Peruvian  prince, 
when  was  discovered  a  mass  of  pure  gold,  amounting  to  4,687,500 
dollars. — (Humboldt's  Researches,  vol.  1,  p.  92.) 

The  pyramids  of  the  Ohio  are,  in  several  instances,  built  in  the 
same  manner,  with  several  stages,  on  the  tops  of  which  were, 
unquestionably,  temples  of  wood,  in  the  day  of  their  glory,  whea 
their  builders  swarmed,  in  populous  ten  thousands,  over  all  the 
unbounded  west ;  but  time  has  destroyed  all  fabrics  of  this  sort, 
while  the  mounds  on  which  they  stood  in  giddy  grandeur  remain, 
but  stripped  of  the  habiliments  of  architecture,  and  the  embellish- 
ments of  art 

There  is,  in  Central  America,  to  the  southeast  of  the  city  of 
Cuernuvaca,  on  ;he  west  declivity  of  Anahuac,  an  isolated  hill, 
which,  together  with  the  pyramid  raised  on  its  top  by  the  ancients 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  277 

of  that  country,  amounts  to  thirty-five  rods  ten  feet  altitude.  The 
ancient  tower  of  Babel,  around  which  the  city  of  Babylon  was 
afterwards  built,  was  a  mere  nothing  compared  with  the  gigantic 
work  of  Anahuac,  being  but  2400  feet  square,  which  is  150  rods, 
or  nearly  so;  while  the  hill  we  are  speaking  of,  partly  natural 
and  partly  artificial,  is  at  its  base  12,066  feet  :  this,  thrown  into 
rods,  gives  754,  and  into  miles,  is  2|,  wanting  eight  rods,  which 
is  five  times  greater  than  that  of  Babel. 

This  hill  is  a  mass  of  rocks,  to  which  the  hand  of  man  has 
given  a  regular  conic  form,  and  which  is  divided  into  five  stories 
or  terraces,  each  of  which  is  covered  with  masonry.  These  ter- 
races are  nearly  sixty  feet  in  perpendicular  height,  one  above  the 
other,  besides  the  artificial  mound  added  at  the  top,  making  its 
height  near  that  of  Babel;  besides,  the  whole  is  surrounded  with 
a  deep  broad  ditch,  more  than  five  times  the  circumference  of  that 
Babylonian  tower. 

Humboldt  says,  we  ought  not  to  be  surprised  at  the  magnitude 
and  dimensions  of  this  work,  as  on  the  ridge  of  the  Cordilleras  of 
Peru,  and  on  the  other  heights,  almost  equal  to  that  of  Tencrific, 
he  had  seen  monuments  still  more  considerable.  Also  in  Canada 
he  had  seen  lines  of  defence,  and  entrenchments  of  extraordinary 
length, the  work  of  some  people  belonging  to  the  early  ages;  those 
in  Canada,  however,  we  imagine  to  be  of  the  Danish  origin,  and 
to  have  been  erected  in  the  9th,  10th,  and  11th  centuries  of  the 
Christian  era,  for  reasons  hereafter  shown. 

If  then,  as  Humboldt  states,  there  were  found  on  the  plains  of 
Canada,  lines  of  defence  of  extraordinary  length,  it  affords  an  ar- 
gument that  the  Norwegians  and  other  northern  nations  may  not 
only  have  made  settlements  there,  but  became  a  kingdom,  a  body 
politic  and  military,  and  waged  long  and  dreadful  wars  with  oppo- 
sing powers,  who  were  unquestionably  the  Indians,  who  had  al- 
ready driven  away  the  more  ancient  inhabitants  of  America,  the 
authors  of  the  western  mounds  and  tumuli.  But  respecting  this 
stone  monument  of  art,  tound  by  the  hunters,  which  we  have 
described  above,  it  is  said  that  travellers  who  have  attentively  ex- 
amined it,  were  struck  with  the  polish  and  cut  of  the  stones,  the 
care  with  which  they  have  been  arranged, without  cement  between 
the  joints,  and  the  execution  of  the  sculpture  with  which  the 
stones  are  decorated — each  figure  occupying  several  stones,  and 


278  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

from  the  outlines  of  the  animals  which  they  represent,  not  being 
broken  by  the  joints  of  the  stones,  it  is  conjectured  the  engravings 
were  made  after  the  edifice  was  finished.  But  the  animals  and 
men  sculptured  on  the  stone  of  this  pyramid,  afford  a  striking  evi- 
dence of  the  country  from  which  the  ancestors  of  those  who  built 
it  came.  There  are  crocodiles  spouting  water,  and  men  sitting 
even  cross-legged,  according  to  the  custom  of  several  Asiatic  na- 
tions. Finally,  the  whole  of  the  American  works,  of  the  most 
ancient  class,  from  Canada  to  the  extreme  parts  of  South  Ameri- 
ca, resemble  those  which  are  daily  discovered  in  the  eastern  parts 
of  Asia. 

From  the  deep  ditch,  with  which  the  greater  monument  we 
have  been  describing  is  surrounded,  the  covering  of  the  terraces, 
the  great  number  of  subterranean  apartments,  cut  into  the  solid 
rock,  on  its  northern  side,  the  wall  that  defends  the  approach  to 
its  base, — it  is  believed  to  have  been  a  military  work,  of  great 
strength.  The  natives,  even  to  this  day,  designate  the  ruins 
of  this  pyramid  by  the  name  that  signifies  a  citadel,  or  castle. — 
The  pyramid  of  Mexitli,  found  in  another  part  of  Mexico, 
called  the  great  temple  of  Tenochtitlan,  contained  an  arsenal  ; 
and  during  the  war  of  the  Spaniards  with  the  devoted  Mexicans, 
was  alternately  resorted  to  as  a  fort  of  defence,  and  a  place  of 
security. 

Nothing  of  the  warlike  character  could  exceed  the  grandeur  of 
a  fight  maintained  from  the  base  to  the  summit  of  one  of  these 
tremendous  teocalis,  or  pyramids.  We  may  suppose  the  foe  ga- 
thered from  their  more  scattered  work  of  ruin,  and  circling,  with 
yells  of  fury,  the  immediate  precincts  of  the  mound,  while  the 
rushing  multitude  fly  from  their  burning  habitations  towards  this 
last  resort.  The  goal  is  gained;  the  first  who  reach  it  ascend  to 
its  top;  rank  after  rank  succeed,  till  in  frightful  circles  of  fero- 
cious warriors,  the  whole  pyramid  is  but  one  living  mass  of  fury. 
Now  the  enemy  come  pouring  round  as  a  deluge,  and  begirt  this 
final  refuge  of  the  wailing  populace,  while  warrior  facing  war- 
rior, each  moment  fells  its  thousands,  by  the  noiseless  death-stab 
of  the  dirk  of  copper;  while  from  the  ranks  above,  the  silent  but 
vengeful  arrow  does  its  work  of  death.  Here,  from  the  strong 
arm  and  well  practised  sling,  stones  with  furious  whizzing  through 
the  air  cover  in  showers  the  distant  squadron  with  dismay.  Circl» 


AND  DISCOVERIES  IN    THE    WEST.  279 

after  circle,  at  the  base,  both  of  invader  and  invaded,  fall  together 
in  glorious  ruin.  Now  the  top,  where  waved  such  signals  of 
defiance  as  rude  nations  could  invent,  becomes  thinned  of  its 
defenders,  who,  pressing  downward,  as  the  lower  ranges  are  cut 
in  pieces,  renew  the  fight.  Now  the  farthest  circle  of  the  enemy 
nears  the  fatal  centre.  Now  the  destinies  of  conflicting  nations 
draw  nigh;  those  of  the  pyramid  have  thrown  their  last  stone  ; 
the  quiver  is  emptied  of  its  arrows;  the  last  spear  of  flint  and 
battle-axe  have  fled,  with  well  directed  aim,  amid  the  throng. 
Surrender,  captivity,  slavery,  and  death,  wind  up  the  account ; 
a  tribe  becomes  extinct,  whose  bones,  when  heaped  together, 
make  a  new  pyramid.  Such,  doubtless,  is  the  origin  of  many  of 
the  frightful  heaps  of  human  bones,  found  scattered  over  all  the 
west. 

We  learn  from  Scripture,  that  in  the  earliest  times  the  temples 
of  Asia,  such  as  that  of  Baal-Berith,  at  Shechim,  in  Canaan, were 
not  only  buildings  consecrated  to  worship,  but  also  entrenchments 
in  which  the  inhabitants  of  a  city  defended  themselves  in  times  of 
war  :  the  same  may  be  said  of  the  Grecian  temples,  for  the  wall 
which  formed  the  parabolis  alone  afforded  an  asylum  to  the  besie- 
ged.— (Humboldt.) 

The  ancient  Carthagenians,  the  sworn  and  eternal  enemies  of 
the  Romans,  practised  raising  mounds  of  earth  over  their  glorious 
dead.  Hannibal,  their  famous  general,  who  for  a  while  so  suc- 
cessfully combated  the  Roman  armies,  almost  in  sight  of  the  im- 
perial city,  was  thus  honored.  At  the  place  where  he  fell  by  his 
own  hand,  having  poisoned  himself  to  escape  the  scorn  of  his  vic- 
tors, was  raised  a  lofty  mound  of  earth  over  his  remains,  exactly 
like  the  one  which  marks  the  place  where  sleep  the  ashes  of 
Achilles,  on  the  plains  of  Troy. 

The  mound  of  Hannibal  was  erected  one  hundred  and  eighty- 
two  years  before  Christ.  If,  therefore,  the  Carthagenians,  the 
Greeks,  the  Romans,  the  more  ancient  Phoenicians,  the  Egyp- 
tians, the  Jews,  and  all  the  first  nations  immediately  succeeding 
the  flood,  were  found  in  this  practice,  is  it  not  fairly  inferred  that 
branches  or  colonies  of  these  same  nations  or  races  of  men,  were 
also  the  authors  of  the  mounds  of  America,  found  scattered  over 
its  mighty  regions? 

Clavigero,who  was  well  acquainted  with  the  history  of  the  Mex- 


280  AMEEICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

icans  and  Peruvians,  professes  to  point  out  the  places  from  whence 
they  emigrated,  several  places  they  stopped  at,  and  the  times  which 
they  continued  to  sojourn  there.  This,  we  understand,  is  the  same 
as  related  before  in  this  work,  written  by  Humboldt,  and  describes 
the  emigration  of  the  Azteca  tribes  from  Aztalan,  or  the  western 
States,  to  Mexico,  which  commenced  to  take  place  not  long  after 
the  conquest  of  Judea  by  Titus.  Clavigero  supposes  these  nations 
of  Aztalan  came  from  Asia,  across  the  Pacific,  from  the  region 
along  the  coast  of  the  Chinese  sea  and  islands,  reaching  America 
not  far  from  Bhering's  strait,  and  from  thence  followed  along  the 
coast  of  the  Pacific,  till  they  came,  in  process  of  time,  to  a  milder 
climate. 

To  this  Mr.  Atwater  adds,  and  supposes  them  to  have  from 
thence  worked  across  the  continent,  as  well  as  in  other  direc- 
tions, as  far  as  the  regions  of  the  western  States  and  territories, 
where  they  may  have  lived  thousands  of  years,  as  their  works 
denote. 

Others  may  have  found  their  way  into  South  America,  by 
crossing  the  Pacific  and  Atlantic,  at  different  times  and  places. — 
Greenlanders  have  been  driven  upon  the  coast  of  Iceland,  which 
is  a  distance  of  at  least  a  thousand  miles.  Thus  transported  by 
winds,  waves  and  stress  of  weather,  man  has  found  all  the  islands 
of  all  the  seas.  In  the  same  way  may  have  arrived  persons  from 
Africa  and  Europe,  Australasians,  Chinese,  Hindoos,  Japanese, 
Burmans,  Kamskatdales  and  Tartars  on  the  coasts  of  America, 
in  the  first  ages. 


A  Specimen  of  Antediluvian  Letters. 

Although  we  have  before  bestowed  a  few  thoughts  on  the  sub- 
ject of  antediluvian  letters,  yet  we  are  inclined  to  state,  farther, 
that  our  opinion  is  still  more  confirmed  that  letters,whether  as  pic- 
tures of  articles,  or  of  ideas  and  words,  were  in  use  before  the 
flood,  from  the  late  discoveries  made  on  pulling  down  the  founda- 
tions of  the  tower  of  Bab?l. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST. 


281 


The  reason  we  introduce  this  subject  again  is,  that  at  the  time 
the  previous  pages  went  to  press,  we  had  not  obtained  the  beau- 
tiful fac-simile  specimen  of  some  of  the  letters  of  that  tower  built 
by  Nimrod,  son  of  Ham,  and  grandson  of  Noah,  and  are  here- 
set  forth. 


These  letters  are  presented  to  the  public  by  Sir  Robert  Tvei 
Porter,  who  examined  them  on  the  spot,  that  is,  at  the  tower, riu 
1820,  on  the  Euphrates,  an  account  of  which  can  be  seen  at  large 
in  his  Travels  in  Persia,  Armenia,  the  country  round  about  the 
mountains  of  Ararat,  Georgia,  Babylon,  and  the  vast  plains  and 
regions  of  the  ancient  Tartars,  or  more  properly  Scythians,  vol. 
2,  p.  395. 

The  invention  of  letters  is,  by  all  who  have  given  their  attention 
to  this  exceedingly  interesting  subject,  ascribed  to  the  Phoenicians, 
who  were  black,  as  the  very  climax  of  antiquity,  going  back  to 
the  time  coeval  with  Abraham,  2000  B.  C.  But  from  the  abund- 
ance of  letters,  not  pictures  of  things^  found  on  the  bricks  of  Ba- 
bel, it  certainly  is  ascertained  that  Nimrod  has  here  availed  him- 
self of  the  art  learned  from  his  grandfather  Noah,  to  record  his. 


"282  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

own  history,  that  of  the  deluge,  the  family  of  man  saved  in  the 
ark,  the  institutions  of  men  before  the  flood,  the  creation  of  the 
first  man  and  woman,  as  also  the  erection  of  the  tower,  and  his 
own  laws  and  religion.  We  do  not  certainly  know  that  such  is 
the  history  written  on  these  bricks,  yet  it  is  highly  probable,  as 
those  subjects  would  be  the  most  likely  to  engross  his  attention, 
and  that  of  all  other  men  at  the  time,  and  are  therefore  supposed 
to  compose  a  history,  as  above  expressed. 

The  reader  will  perceive  that  the  writing  is  ki  perpendicular 
columns,  a  mode  known  to  the  most  ancient  Chinese,  although 
horizontal  writing  is  practised  in  that  country  yet,  more  fre- 
quently, according  to  Good,  and  by  the  Chinese  it  is  said  to  be 
the  most  ancient.  The  varieties  of  these  letters  are  found  to  be 
immense,  yet  they  all  partake  of  a  similar  formation,  which  is 
arrow-headed,  and  in  our  opinion  stand  at  the  head  of  all  the  let- 
ters of  the  human  race,  and  are  the  same  which  were  in  use  be- 
fore the  flood.  But  whether  they  were  invented  by  man  at  first^, 
or  were  received  from  God  by  Adam,  Seth  or  Enoch,  is  a  ques- 
tion among  the  most  learned.  Some  are  of  the  opinion  that  let- 
ters are  the  result  of  improvement  from  picture  writing,  and 
others  that  they  were  received  by  inspiration.  We  incline,  how- 
ever, to  believe  them  the  invention  of  man;  yet  we  do  not  forget 
that  "  Man  hath  his  understanding  by  the  inspiration  of  God." — 
(Job.) 

It  is  said  by  the  same  traveller,  that  on  his  leaving  the  bank  of 
the  river  Ingouletz  he  entered  on  the  dreary  steppe  or  desert 
plains,  where  he  observed  innumerable  tumuli,  or  mounds;  and 
some  of  a  breadth  and  height  hardly  credible.  He  says  the  mounds 
in  this  immense  region  of  the  dead,  vary  greatly  in  size,  and  that 
where  one  of  unusual  magnitude  is  found,  it  is  generrlly  surroun- 
ded by  several  smaller  ones.  So  also  in  America.  It  is  the  opi- 
nion of  this  most  intelligent  traveller  that  there  should  be  no  doubt 
but  the  larger  sort  of  these  tumuli  were  raised  over  the  bodies  of 
princes  and  heroes,  and  that  the  smaller  ones  cover  the  remains 
of  the  followers  of  their  armies  or  of  their  state.  But  that  so  vast 
an  expanse  should  be  occupied  by  monuments  of  the  dead,  extend- 
ing regularly  to  the  very  farthest  extent  of  sight,  seeemed  almost 
beyond  belief ;  yet  there  they  were,  and  the  contemplation  was  as 
awful  as  the  view  wa6  amazing. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN   THE    WEST.  283 

His  first  impression,  he  says,  on  beholding  the  immensity  of 
these  tumuli,  was  that  he  was  in  some  famous  field  of  battle,  vast 
enough  for  the  world  to  have  been  lost  in.  Herodotus  thus  de- 
scribes the  burial  place  of  princes  among  the  ancient  Scythians. 
He  says  a  large  quadrangular  excavation  was  made  in  the  earth, 
in  dimensions  more  like  a  hall  of  banquet  than  a  grave,and  within 
it  was  placed  a  sort  of  bier  bearing  the  body  of  the  deceased  prince. 
Daggers  were  laid  at  various  distances  around  him,  and  a  number 
of  golden  goblets  ;  the  whole  then  covered  with  pieces  of  wood, 
and  branches  of  the  willow  tree.  This  done,  the  hollow  was  soon 
filled  up,  and  surmounted  with  earth  by  the  multitudes  following 
in  the  train. 

Herodotus  also  describes  the  great  tumulus  erected  over  the 
remains  of  Alyates,  the  father  of  Croesus, which  in  part  still  exists 
near  the  ancient  city  of  Sardis.  He  describes  it  as  of  a  prodigious 
height,  having  a  base  of  stones,  and  that  three  classes  of  people 
were  employed  to  raise  up  its  enormous  bulk.  This  tumulus  was, 
in  the  time  of  Strabo,  though  partly  destroyed,  still  two  hundred 
feet  high,  and  its  circumference  three-fourths  of  a  mile.  This 
mound  or  tumulus  was  erected  about  600  years  before  Christ;  as 
this  Alyates,  the  father  of  Croesus,  was  contemporary  with  Nebu- 
chadnezzar, the  king  of  Babylon,  the  same  of  whom  the  Scriptures 
give  an  account.  All  about  that  region,  (the  tower  of  Babel,) 
mounds  are  still  immense  in  numbers,  copied  from  the  first,  that 
of  Babel,  and  Babel,  it  is  likely,  from  the  same  practice  once  in 
use  before  the  flood,  to  mark  the  places  where  slept  the  remains 
of  the  mighty  dead,  whose  deeds  attracted  the  eye  of  heaven  it- 
self, and  provoked  its  thunders  to  exterminate  the  race,  in  the 
horrors  of  the  deluge. 


Voyages  and  Shipping  of  the  Mongol  Tartars,  and  Settle- 
ments on  the  Western  Coast  of  America. 

The  whole  western  coast  of  the  American  continent,  from  op- 
posite the  Japan  islands,  in  latitude  from  40  to  50  degrees  north, 
down  to  Patagonia,  in  latitude  40  south — a  distance  of  more  than 


284  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

six  thousand  miles — it  would  appear  was  once  populous  with  such 
nations  as  peopled  the  Japan  islands,  and  the  eastern  shores  of 
Asia,  Chinese  Tartary,  China,  and  Farther  India;  who  also  peo- 
pled the  islands  between  with  their  various  nations. 

A  cross  made  of  fine  marble,  beautifully  polished,  about  three 
feet  high, and  three  fingers  and  width  in  thickness, was  found  in  an 
Indian  temple.  This,  it  appears,  was  kept  as  sacred,  in  a  palace 
of  one  of  the  Incas,  and  held  in  great  veneration  by  the  natives 
of  South  America.  When  the  Spaniards  conquered  that  country 
they  enriched  this  cross  with  gold  jewels,  and  placed  it  in  the  ca- 
thedral of  Cuzco.  But  how  came  this  emblem  of  Christianity  in 
America?  There  were  in  the  service  of  the  Mongols,  in  the  13th 
century,  many  Nestorians,  a  sect  of  Christians.  The  conqueror 
of  the  king  of  eastern  Bengal  was  a  Christian,  which  was  in 
1272,  A.  D. 

Under  this  king,  a  part  of  an  expedition  was  sent  to  conquer  the 
islands  of  Japan,  in  large  Chinese  vessels,  and  supposed  to  have 
been  commanded  by  these  Christian  Nestorians,  as  officers,  being 
more  trust-worthy,  and  more  expert  in  warlike  manoeuvres  than 
the  Mongol  natives.  This  expedition  by  some  means  found  their 
way  from  the  Japan  islands,  (which  are  west  from  North  Amer- 
ica, in  north  latitude  35  degrees,)  to  the  coast  of  America,  in  the 
same  latitude,  and  landed  at  a  place  called,  in  the  Mexican  lan- 
guage, Culcaan,  opposite  New  California,  in  north  latitude  about 
35  degrees. 

In  1273  A.  D.,  Kublai,  a  Mongol  emperor,  it  appears,  became 
master  of  all  China :  at  that  time,  they  were  in  the  possession  of 
the  knowledge  of  ship  building,  so  that  vessels  of  enormous  size 
were  constructed  by  them,  so  great  as  to  carry  more  than  a  thou- 
sand men;  being  four  masted,  not  rigged  as  vessels  now  are,  yet 
well  adapted  to  take  advantage  of  the  winds.  In  this  way,  this 
emblem,  the  cross,  may  have  found  its  way  here.  They  were  so 
solidly  and  conveniently  made,  as  to  carry  elephants  on  their 
decks.  The  Peruvians  had  a  tradition  that  many  ages  before  their 
conquest  by  the  Spaniards,  there  landed  on  their  coast,  at  St. 
Helen's  point,  vessels  manned  with  giants,  having  no  beard,  and 
were  taller  from  their  knees  downward  than  a  man's  head  ;  that 
they  had  long  hair,  which  hung  loose  upon  their  shoulders,  and 
that  their  eyes  were  wide  apart,  and  very  big  in  other  parts  of 
their  bodies. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  285 

This  description  is  supposed  descriptive  of  the  elephants  only, 
with  their  riders,  blended  both  in  one  animal:  as  they  did  in  after 
years,  when  the  Spaniards  rode  on  horses,  they  took  them  at  first 
to  be  all  one  animal.  ' 

There  remains  not  a  doubt  that  the  Mongol  Tartars  found  their 
way  from  China  to  the  west  of  America  in  shipping.  The  voyage 
is  not  so  great  as  to  render  it  impossible,  as  that  a  French  vessel, 
in  the  year  1721,  sailed  from  China,  and  arrived  at  a  place  called 
Vallc  do  Nandras,  on  the  coast,  in  fifty  days.  The  Phoenician 
letters  were  known  among  the  Mongol  nations.  If,  therefore, 
they  found  their  way  to  America,  we  at  once  account  for  the 
Phoenician  characters  found  in  caverns,  and  cut  in  rocks  of  that 
country. 

A  description  of  what  is  supposed  a  Chinese  Mongol  town, to  the 
west,  in  latitude  39,  in  longitude  87,  called  by  themselves,  when 
first  visited  by  the  Spaniards,  Talomeco,  is  exceedingly  curious, 
and  situated  on  the  bank  of  a  river  running  into  the  Pacific  from 
the  territory  now  called  Oregon,  only  four  degrees  south  of  Lake 
Erie,  and  in  longitude  87,  or  exactly  west  of  Ohio,  in  latitude  39. 
It  was  well  built,  and  contains  five  hundred  houses,  some  of 
which  are  large  and  show  well  at  a  distance.  It  was  situated  on 
the  banks  of  a  river.  Hernando  Soto  dined  with  a  cacique  named 
Guachaia,  and  was  entertained  with  as  much  civility  as  exists 
among  polished  nations.  The  suit  of  servants  stood  in  a  row  with 
their  backs  against  the  wall.  This  is  an  eastern  fashion.  While 
the  cacique  was  at  dinner,  he  happened  to  sneeze,  on  which  the 
attendants  respectfully  bowed  :  this,  too,  was  an  ancient  eastern 
usage.  After  the  repast  was  finished,  the  servants  all  dined  in 
another  hall.  The  meat  was  well  cooked,  the  fish  properly  roasted 
or  broiled. 

They  had  a  knowledge  of  dressing  furs  with  neatness  ;  deer 
skins  were  prepared  with  softness  and  delicacy,  with  which  they 
clothed  themselves. 

The  principal  pride  and  grandeur  of  this  people,  however,  con- 
sisted in  their  temple, which  stood  in  the  town  of  Talomeco,  which 
was  also  the  sepulchre  of  their  caciques,  or  chiefs.  The  temple 
was  a  hundred  paces  long,which  is  eighteen  rods,  and  forty  wide, 
which  is  seven  rods  and  eight  feet.  lis  doors  were  wide,  in  pro- 
portion to  its  length.     The  roof  was  supported  by  posts  from  the 


U86  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ground,  and  thatched  neatly  with  split  twigs,  and  built  sloping,  to 
throw  off  the  rain.  It  was  thickly  decorated  with  different  sized 
shells,  connected  together  in  festoons,  which  shone  beautifully  in 
the  sun. 

On  entering  the  temple,  there  were  twelve  wooden  statues,  of 
gigantic  size, with  menacing  and  savage  faces,  the  tallest  of  which 
was  eight  feet  high.  They  held  in  their  hands,  in  a  striking  pos- 
ture, clubs  adorned  with  copper.  Some  had  copper  hatchets, 
edged  with  flint  ;  others  had  bows  and  arrows,  and  some  held 
long  pikes,  pointed  with  copper.  The  Spaniards  thought  these 
statues  worthy  of  the  Romans.  On  each  of  the  four  sides  of  the 
temple  there  were  two  rows  of  statues,  the  size  of  life — the  upper 
row  of  men,  with  arms  in  their  hands — the  lower  row  of  women. 
The  cornice  in  the  temple  was  ornamented  with  large  shells,  min- 
gled with  pearls  and  festoons. 

.  The  corpses  of  these  caciques  were  so  well  embalmed  that  there 
was  no  bad  smell ;  they  were  deposited  in  large  wooden  coffers, 
well  constructed,  and  placed  upon  benches,  two  feet  from  the 
ground.  In  smaller  coffers,  and  in  baskets,  the  Spaniards  found 
the  clothes  of  the  deceased  men  and  women,  and  so  many  pearls 
that  they  distributed  them  among  the  officers  and  soldiers,  by 
handfulls.  The  prodigious  quantity  cf  pearls;  the  heaps  of  col- 
ored chamois  or  goat  skins  ;  clothes  of  marten  and  other  well 
dressed  furs  ;  the  thick,  well  made  targets  of  twigs,  ornamented 
with  [  earls,  and  other  things  found  in  this  temple  and  its  magazines 
which  consisted  of  eight  halls  of  equal  magnitude,  made  even  the 
Spaniards  who  had  been  in  Peru  admire  this  as  the  wonder  of  the 
new  world. 

The  remains  of  cities  and  towns  of  an  ancient  population  exist 
every  where  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific,  which  agree,  in  fashion, 
with  the  works  and  ruins  found  along  the  Chinese  coasts,  exactly 
west  from  the  western  limits  of  North  America;  showing  beyond 
all  dispute  that  in  ancient  times  the  countries  were  known  to  each 
other,  and  voyages  were  reciprocally  made.  The  style  of  their 
shipping  was  such  as  to  be  equal  to  voyages  of  that  distance,  and 
also  sufficient  to  withstand*  stress  of  weather,  even  beyond  ves- 
sels of  the  present  times,  on  account  of  their  great  depth  of  keel 
and  size. 

"The  Chinese  ships  have  a  single  deck,  below  the  space  of 


AJTD    DIBCOVIRICS    IN    THE    WI8T.  287 

which  is  divided  into  a  great  number  of  cabins,  sometimes  not 
less  than  sixty,  affording  accommodations  for  as  many  merchants 
with  their  servants.  They  have  a  good  helm.  Some  of  the  larger 
ships  have  besides  the  cabin,  thirteen  bulk-heads  or  divisions  in  the 
hold,  formed  of  thick  planks  mortised  together.  The  object  of  this 
is  to  guard  against  springing  a  leak,  if  they  strike  on  a  rock,  or 
should  be  struck  by  a  whale,  which  not  unfrequently  occurs. — 
By  this  plan,  if  an  accident  did  happen,  only  one  of  the  divisions 
could  bo  affected.  The  whole  vessel  was  double  planked,  laid 
over  the  first  planking;  and  so  large  were  some  of  these  vessels, 
as  to  require  a  crew  of  three  hundred  sailors  to  manage  them 
when  at  sea." — (See  Marco  Polo,  Book  Zd,  chap.  1,  and  note 
1126— Rankin.) 

In  A.  D.  1275,  the  Tartars,  under  their  general,  called  Moko, 
undertook  the  invasion  of  the  Japan  empire,  which  lies  along  ad- 
jacent to  China  between  the  western  coast  of  North  America  and 
China,  with  a  fleet  of  4,000  sail,  having  on  board  two  hundred 
and  forty  thousand  men.  But  the  expedition  proved  unsuccessful, 
as  it  was  destroyed  by  a  storm,  driven  and  scattered  about  the 
Pacific  ocean. — (Kempfer's  History  of  Japan — Rankin.)  From 
this  we  discover  the  perfect  ability  of  the  western  nations,  that  is, 
west  of  America,  to  explore  the  ocean  as  suited  their  inclinations,, 
in  the  earliest  ages;  for  we  are  not  to  suppose  the  Tartars  had 
just  then,  in  1275,  come  to  a  knowledge  of  navigation,  but  rather 
the  greatness  of  this  fleet  is  evidence  that  the  art  had  arrived  to 
its  highest  state  of  perfection  long  before. 

But  had  they  a  knowledge  of  the  compass'?  This  is  an  impor- 
tant inquiry.  On  this  subject  we  have  the  following  from  the  pen 
of  the  most  learned  antiquarian  of  the  age,  C  S.  Rafinesque, 
whose  writings  we  have  several  times  alluded  to  in  the  course  of 
this  work. 

This  author  says  that  in  the  year  of  the  world  1201*,  or  2800 
B.  C,  or  450  years  before  the  flood,  the  magnetic  needle  was 
known  and  in  use,  and  that  under  the  Emperor  Hoangti,  which 
was  about  130  years  nearer  the  time  of  the  flood,  reckoning  from 
the  creation,  ships  began  to  be  invented;  he  even  gives  the  names 
of  two  ship  builders,  Kong-ku,  and  Ho-ahu,  who  by  order  of  the 
above  uamed  emperor,  built  boats,  at  first  with  hollow  trees,  and 


288  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

furnished  them  with  oars,  and  were  sent  to  explore  places  where 
no  man  had  ever  been. 

In  the  year  2037  B.  C,  or  307  years  after  the  flood,  under  the 
Hid  dynasty  embassies  were  sent  to  China  from  foreign  coun- 
ties beyond  the  sea,who  came  in  ships  to  pay  homage  to  the  Hias 
or  emperor.  If  a  knowledge  of  the  magnet,  and  its  adaptation  to 
navigation,  was  known  before  the  flood,  as  appears  from  this 
writer's  remarks,  who  derives  this  discovery  from  a  perusal  of 
the  Chinese  histories,  it  was  of  necessity  divulged  by  Noah,  to 
his  immediate  posterity,  who,  it  is  said,  went  soon  after  the  con- 
fusion of  the  language  at  Babel,  and  planted  a  colony  in  China, 
or  in  that  eastern  country;  as  all  others  of  mankind  had  perished 
in  the  flood,  consequently  there  were  none  else  to  promulge  it  but 
his  family. 

Dr.  Clarke  has  given  his  opinion,  in  his  comment  on  the  book 
of  Job,  that  the  needle  was  known  to  the  ancients  of  the  east;  he 
derives  this  from  certain  expressions  of  Job,  chap,  xxviii.  ver.  18, 
respecting  precious  stones,  which  are  :  "■  No  mention  shall  be 
made  of  coral  pearls  ;  for  the  price  of  wisdom  is  above  rubies." 
That  is,  it  is  understood  that  the  wisdom  which  aided  man  to  make 
this  discovery,  and  to  apply  it  to  the  purposes  of  navigation,  on 
the  account  of  its  polarity,  is  that  wisdom  which  is  above  the 
price  of  rubies.  "  The  attractive  properties  of  loadstone  must 
have  been  observed  from  its  first  discovery;  and  there  is  every 
reason  to  believe  that  the  magnet  and  its  virtues  were  known  in 
the  east  long  before  they  were  discovered  in  Europe." — (Clarke.) 

But  it  may  be  inquired,  if  the  knowledge  of  the  magnet  and  its 
application  to  the  great  purpose  of  navigation  and  surveying  were 
understood  in  any  degree,  how  came  one  branch  of  the  descend- 
ants of  the  family  of  Noah — those  who  went  east  from  Ararat, 
to  have  it,  and  the  others,  who  went  in  other  directions,  to  be 
ignorant  of  it,  and  had  to  discover  it  over  again  in  the  course  of 
ages?  We  can  answer  this^  only  by  noticing  that  many  arts  of 
the  ancients  of  Europe  and  Africa  are  lost — how,  we  cannot  tell; 
but  in  the  same  way  this  art  was  lost.  Wars,  convulsions,  revo- 
lutions, sweeping  diseases,  often  change  the  entire  face  and  state 
of  society;  so  that  if  it  were  even  known  to  all  theirs*  genera- 
tion, immediately  succeeding  the  flood,  a  second  generation  may 
have  lost  it,  not  dwelling  in  the  vicinity  of  great  waters.  Having 
no  use  for  such  an  art,  would  of  necessity  lose  it. 


AND  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  289 

In  the  year  1197,  before  Christ,  a  large  colony  from  China, 
under  the  Yu  dynasty,  was  sent  to  Japan,  and  other  western 
islands,  who  drove  out  the  Oni,  or  black  inhabitants,  the  first  set- 
tlers of  those  islands,  a  branch,  it  appears,  of  the  family  of  Ham, 
who  had  found  their  way  across  the  whole  continent  of  Asia,  from 
Ararat,  or  else  had  by  sea  coasted  along  from  the  countries  of  the 
equator,  their  natural  home,  to  those  beautiful  islands. 

From  this  trait  of  early  settlement,  we  see  the  African,  as  he  is 
-now  designated,  as  enterprising  in  the  colonizing  of  new  countries 
as  they  were  in  the  study  of  astronomy,  and  of  building,  at  the 
time^the  Egyptians  first  merge  to  notice  on  the  page  of  history. 
And  if  the  Japan  islands,  a  part  of  the  earth  as  far  from  Ararat, 
the  great  starting  point  of  man  after  the  flood,  as  is  America,  and 
much  farther,  was  found  settled  by  the  black  race  of  Ham,  why 
not  therefore  parts  of  America,  as  soon,  or  sooner?  The  pure 
negro  has  been  found  on  some  of  the  islands  between  China  and 
America,  which  would  seem  to  indicate  that  this  race  of  people 
have  preceded  even  the  whites,  or  at  least  equalled  them,  in  first 
peopling  the  globe  after  the  deluge. 

Rafinesque,  the  great  antiquarian,  says  the  exact  time  when  the 
Chinese  first  discovered  or  reached  America,  is  not  given  in  their 
books,  but  it  was  known  to  them,  he  says,  and  to  the  Japanese  at 
a  very  early  period,  and  called  by  them  Fu  Sham,  and  frequent- 
ed for  trade.  But  who  were  here  for  them  to  trade  with  ?  Our 
answer  is,  those  first  inhabitants,  the  white,  the  red  and  the  black 
descendants  of  the  sons  of  Noah,  Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth,  who 
got  on  to  the  continent  before  it  was  severed  from  Asia  and  Afri- 
ca, in  the  days  of  Peleg,  two  hundred  years  after  the  flood  of 
Noah. 

But  there  is  another  way  of  accounting  for  the  appearance  of 
the  cross,  the  emblem  of  Christianity,  besides  the  supposition  of 
its  having  been  introduced  by  the  Nestorians,  as  stated  on  page 
273.  There  was  a  tradition  among  the  Mexican  Indians,  when 
that  country  was  first  overrun  by  the  Spaniards,  that  Chris- 
tianity had  once  been  introduced  into  that  country  by  a  person 
whom  they  worshipped  under  the  name  of  Quetzalcotl ;  and  ac- 
cording to  the  tradition  of  the  Catholic  church,  and  the  opinions 
«f  several  Spanish  writers,  this  was  none  other  than  the  apostle, 
St.  Thomas. 

19 


290  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIK8 


A  Further  Account  of  Western  Discoveries. 

Six  miles  from  Lebanon,  on  the  Little  Miami,  above  the  mouth 
of  Todd's  fork,  are  curious  remains  of  ancient  works.  The  form 
of  one  of  the  forts  is  trapezoidal;  the  walls  are  of  earth,  and  gen- 
erally eight  or  ten  feet  high  ;  but  in  one  place,  where  it  crosses 
the  brow  of  the  hill  where  it  stands,  it  is  eighteen  feet  high.  The 
Little  Miami  passes  by  on  the  west,  on  the  north  are  deep  ravines, 
and  on  the  south  and  southeast  the  same  ravines  continue,  mak- 
ing it  a  position  of  great  strength.  The  area  of  the  whole  enclo- 
sure is  nearly  a  hundred  acres;  the  wall  has  numerous  angles, 
retreating,  salient  and  acute,  from  which  are  eighty  outlets,  or 
gateways — from  which  circumstance  we  learn  that  its  citizens 
were  very  great  in  number,  or  so  many  gateways  would  not  have 
been  needed.  Two  mounds  are  in  its  neighborhood,  from  which 
walls  run  in  different  directions  to  the  adjoining  ravines.  Round 
about  this  work  are  the  traces  of  several  roads  :  two  of  them  are 
sixteen  feet  wide,  elevated  about  three  feet  in  their  centre,  like 
our  turnpikes 

The  Sioux  country,  on  the  Wabispinekan,  St.  Peters,  and 
Yellow  rivers,  abounds  with  ancient  entrenchments,  mounds  and 
fortifications.  Six  miles  from  St.  Louis,  is  a  place  called  the 
valley  of  bones,  where  the  ground  is  promiscuously  strewed  with 
human  and  animal  bones.  Some  of  the  former  are  of  an  enor- 
mous size. 

On  the  river  Huron,  thirty  miles  from  Detroit,  and  about  eight 
miles  from  Lake  St.  Clair,  are  a  number  of  small  mounds,  situa- 
ted on  a  dry  plain  or  bluff  of  the  river.  Sixteen  baskets  full  of 
human  bones,  of  a  remarkable  size,  were  discovered  in  the  earth 
while  sinking  a  cellar  on  this  plain  for  the  missionary.  Near  the 
mouth  of  this  river,  (Huron)  on  the  east  bank,  are  ancient  works 
representing  a  fortress,  with  walls  of  earth  thrown  up,  similar  to 
those  of  Indiana  and  Ohio. 

At  Belle  Fontaine,  or  Spring  Wells,  three  miles  below  Detroit, 
are  three  mounds  or  tumuli,  standing  in  a  direct  line,  about  ten 
rods  apart.     One  of  these*  hiving  been  opened,  bones,  stone  axes 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  291 

and  arrow-heads  were  found  in  abundance.  Within  the  distance 
of  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  these,  are  still  to  be  seen  the  remains  of 
ancient  fortifications — a  breast-work,  in  some  places  three  and 
four  feet  high,  enclosing  several  acres  of  firm  ground,  in  the  cen- 
tre of  an  extensive  swamp. 

"  In  the  State  of  Indiana,  Franklin  county,  near  Harrisonville 
on  the  Whitewater  river,  eight  miles  from  its  mouth,  on  the  north 
side,  the  traces  of  an  ancient  population  literally'-  strew  the  earth 
in  every  direction.  On  the  bottoms  or  fiats  are  a  great  number  of 
mounds,  very  unequal  in  size.  The  small  or.es  are  from  two  to 
four  feet  above  the  surface,  and  the  growth  of  timber  upon  them 
small,  not  being  over  one  hundred  years  old,  while  the  others  are 
from  ten  to  thirty  feet  high,  with  trees  growing  on  them,  of 
the  largest  and  most  aged  description." — (Brown's  Western  Ga- 
zetteer.) 

Mr.  Brown,  the  author  of  the  Western  Gazetteer,  from  whose 
work  we  extract  the  following,  says  he  obtained  the  assistance  of 
the  inhabitants  for  the  purpose  of  making  a  thorough  examination 
of  the  internal  structure  of  these  mounds.  He  examined  from 
fifteen  to  twenty  of  them,  and  found  them  all  except  one  to  con- 
tain human  bones — some  filled  with  hundreds  of  all  ages,  thrown 
promiscuously  together  into  great  heaps.  He  found  several  sculls, 
leg  and  thigh  bones,  which  pfainly  show  that  their  possessors 
were  persons  of  gigantic  stature.  The  teeth  of  all  the  subjects 
he  examined,  were  remarkably  even  and  sound,  handsomely 
and  firmly  planted.  The  fore  teeth  were  very  deep,  and  not  so 
wide  as  those  of  the  generality  of  white  people.  He  discovered  in 
one  mound  an  article  of  glass,  in  form  resembling  the  bottom  of  a 
tumbler,  weighing  five  ounces.  It  was  concave  on  both  of  its 
sides. 

In  this  mound  were  found  several  stone  axes,  such  as  are 
shown  on  the  plate,  with  grooves  near  the  heads  to  receive  a 
withe,  (which  unquestionably  served  to  fasten  the  helve  on,)  and 
several  pieces  of  earthen  ware.  Some  appeared  to  be  parts  of 
vessels  once  holding  six  or  eight  gallons  ;  others  were  obviously 
fragments  of  jugs,  jars  and  cups.  Some  were  plain,  others  were 
curiously  ornamented  with  figures  of  birds  and  beasts,  drawn 
while  the  clay,  or  material  of  which  they  were  made,  was  soft, 
before  the  process  of  glazing  was  performed.     The  glazer's  art 


292  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

appears  to  have  been  well  understood  by  the  potters  who  manu- 
factured this  aboriginal  crockery.  One  of  the  skulls  taken  out 
of  a  mound  at  this  place,  was  found  pierced  with  a  flint  arrow, 
which  was  still  sticking  in  the  wound,  and  was  about  six  inches 
long. 

At  the  bottom  of  all  the  mounds  he  examined,  there  was  found 
a  stratum  of  ashes,  from  six  inches  to  two  feet  thick,  which  rests 
on  the  original  soil;  these  ashes  contain  coals,  fragments  of  brands 
and  pieces  of  burnt  human  bones.  It  is  somewhat  singular  to  find 
that  these  people  both  buried  and  burnt  their  dead;  yet  it  may  be 
that  such  as  were  burnt  were  prisoners  of  war,  who  being  bound 
and  laid  in  heaps,  were  thus  reduced  to  ashes,  by  heaping  over 
them  brush  and  dry  wood. 

Near  this  place,  (Harrisonville)  on  the  neighboring  hills  north- 
east of  the  town,  are  a  number  of  the  remains  of  stone  houses. — 
They  were  covered  with  soil,  brush  and  full  grown  trees.  Mr. 
Brown  cleared  away  the  earth,  roots  and  rubbish  from  one  of  them, 
and  found  it  to  have  been  anciently  occupied  as  a  dwelling.  It 
was  about  twelve  feet  square  ;  the  walls  had  fallen  nearly  to  the 
foundation,  having  been  built  with  the  rough  stone  of  nature,  like 
a  stone  wall.  At  one  end  of  the  building  was  a  regular  hearth,  on 
which  were  yet  the  ashes  and  coals  of  the  last  fire  its  owners  had 
enjoyed;  before  which  were  found  the  decayed  skeletons  of  eight 
persons,  of  different  ages,  from  a  small  child  to  the  heads  of  the 
family.  Their  feet  were  found  pointing  towards  the  hearth;  and 
were  probably  murdered  while  asleep.  From  the  circumstance  of 
the  kind  of  house  these  people  lived  in,  (which  is  the  evidence  of 
their  not  belonging  to  the  mound  inhabitants,)  we  should  pro- 
nounce them  to  be  a  settlement  of  Welch,  Scandinavians  or  Scotch, 
who  had  thus  wandered  to  the  west,  from  the  first  settlements 
made  along  the  Atlantic,  and  were  exterminated  by  the  common 
Indians, who  had  also  destroyed  or  driven  away  the  authors  of  the 
mounds,  many  hundred  years  before  these  Europeans  came  to 
this  country. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  293 


Various  opinions  of  Antiquarians  respecting  the  Original  In- 
habitants of  America. 

But  we  hasten  to  a  conclusion  of  this  work,  by  furnishing  the 
reader  with  the  opinions  of  several  antiquarians,  who  stand  high 
in  the  estimation  of  the  lovers  of  research  ;  and  among  these  is 
the  late  celebrated  Dr.  Samuel  L.  Mitchell,  professor  of  natural 
history.  And  as  we  have  not  room  to  give  at  length  all  that  these 
gentlemen  have  published  on  this  subject,  we  shall  avail  ourselves 
of  extracts,  only  such  as  will  show  their  final  judgment  as  to  what 
nations  or  races  of  men  they  were,  who  built  the  works  of  which 
we  have  given  some  account. 

In  the  following,  we  have  the  remarks  and  opinions  of  Dr. 
Mitchell,  in  his  communication  to  the  American  Antiquarian  So- 
ciety, of  which  he  was  a  member,  1815: 

"I  offer  you  some  observations  on  a  curious  piece  of  American 
antiquity,  now  in  New-York.  It  is  a  human  body,  found  in  one 
of  the  limestone  caverns  of  Kentucky:  it  is  a  perfect  exsiccation; 
all  the  fluids  are  dried  up.  The  skin,  bones,  and  other  firm  parts 
are  in  a  state  of  entire  preservation. 

"  The  body  is  in  a  squatting  posture, with  the  right  arm  reclin 
ing  forward,  and  its  hand  encircling  the  right  leg.  The  left  arm 
hangs  down  by  its  side.  The  individual  was  a  male,  supposed  to 
be  not  more  than  fourteen  at  its  death.  There  is  a  deep  and 
extensive  fracture  of  the  skull,  near  the  occiput,  which  probably 
killed  him.  The  skin  has  sustained  but  little  injury,  and  is  of  a 
dusky  color,  but  the  natural  hue  cannot  be  decided  with  exactness 
from  its  present  appearance.  The  scalp,  with  small  exceptions, 
is  covered  with  reddish  hair.  The  teeth  are  white  and  sound. — 
The  hands  and  feet,  in  their  shrivelled  state,  are  slender  and 
delicate. 

"  In  exploring  a  calcareous  chamber,  in  the  neighborhood  of 
Glasgow,  in  the  west,  for  saltpetre,  several  human  bodies  were 
found  enwrapped  carefully  in  skins  and  cloths.  The  outer  enve- 
lopes of  the  bodies  are  a  deer  skin,  dried  in  the  usual  way,  and 
perhaps  softened  before  its  application,  by  rubbing.  The  next 
covering  is  a  deer  skin,  the  hair  of  which  had  been  cut  away  by 


294  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

a  sharp  instrument,  resembling  a  hatter's  knife.  The  remnant 
of  the  hair  and  the  gashes  in  the  skin  nearly  resemble  a  sheared 
pelt  of  beaver.  The  next  wrapper  is  of  cloth,  made  of  twine, 
doubled  and  twisted,  but  the  threads  do  not  appear  to  have  been 
formed  by  the  wheel,  nor  the  web  by  the  loom.  The  warp  and 
filling  seem  to  have  been  crossed  and  knotted  by  an  operation  like 
that  of  the  fabrics  of  the  northwest  coast  and  of  the  Sandwich 
islands.  The  innermost  tegument  is  a  mantle  of  cloth  like  the 
preceding,  but  is  furnished  with  large  brown  feathers,  arranged 
and  fashioned  with  great  art,  so  as  to  be  capable  of  guarding  the 
living  wearer  from  wet  and  cold.  The  plumage  is  distinct  and 
entire,  and  the  whole  bears  a  near  similitude  to  the  feathery 
cloaks  now  worn  by  the  nations  of  the  northwest  coast  of  Ame- 
rica. 

"  It  may  now,"  adds  Dr.  Mitchell,  "  be  expected  that  I  should 
offer  some  opinion  as  to  the  antiquity  and  race  of  this  singular 
exsiccation.  First,  then,  I  am  satisfied  it  does  not  belong  to  the 
class  of  white  men  of  which  we  are  members.  Nor  do  I  believe 
that  it  ought  to  be  referred  to  the  bands  of  Spanish  adventurers, 
who,  between  the  15th  and  16th  centuries  rambled  up  the  Missis- 
sippi, and  along  the  tributary  streams.  I  am  equally  obliged  to 
reject  the  opinion  that  it  belonged  to  any  of  the  tribes  of  abori- 
gines now  or  lately  inhabiting  Kentucky.  The  mantle  of  feath- 
ered work  and  the  mantle  of  twisted  threads,  so  nearly  resemble 
the  fabrics  of  the  natives  of  Wakash  and  the  Pacific  islands,  that 
I  refer  this  individual  to  that  era  of  time,  and  that  generation  of 
men  which  preceded  the  Indians  of  Green  river,  and  of  the  place 
where  these  relics  were  found." 

In  another  letter  to  the  Society,  of  a  later  date,  he  requests  the 
preservation  of  certain  papers,  "  as  worthy  of  being  recorded  in 
its  archives,  showing  the  progress  of  his  mind  in  coming  to  the 
great  conclusion  that  the  three  races,  Malays,  Tartars  and  Scan- 
dinavians contributed  to  make  up  the  great  American  population, 
who  were  the  authors  of  the  various  works  and  antiquities  found 
on  the  continent." — (Am.  Antiquarian,  p.  315.) 

The  fabrics  accompanying  the  Kentucky  bodies  resemble  very 
nearly  those  which  encircled  the  mummies  of  Tennessee.  On 
comparing  the  two  sets  of  samples,  they  were  ascertained  to  be  as 
much  alike  as  two  pieces  of  goods  of  the  same  kind,  made  at  dif- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  295 

ferent  factories  of  this  country.  Other  antiquities  of  the  same 
class  have  come  to  light;  specimens  of  cloths,  and  some  of  the 
raw  materials,  all  dug  out  of  that  unparalleled  natural  excavation, 
the  Kentucky  cavern,  which  is  found  to  extend  many  miles,  in 
different  directions, very  deep  in  the  earth;  has  many  vast  rooms, 
one  in  particular  of  eighteen  hundred  feet  in  circumference,  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  in  height.  For  a  very  grand  description  of 
this  cave,  see  Blake's  Atlas,  1826,  published  at  New-York,  for 
subscribers. 

The  articles  found  in  this  cave  were  sent  to  Dr.  Mitchell,  of  the 
city  of  New-York,  which  were  accompanied  with  the  following 
note:  "  There  will  be  found  in  this  bundle  two  moccasins,  in  the 
same  state  they  were  when  dug  out  of  the  Mammoth  cave,  about 
two  hundred  yards  within  its  mouth.  Upon  examination,  it  will 
be  perceived  that  they  are  fabricated  out  of  different  materials: — 
one  is  supposed  to  be  made  of  a  species  of  flag  or  lily, which  grows 
in  the  southern  parts  of  Kentucky;  the  other  of  the  bark  of  some 
tree,  probably  the  pawpaw.  There  is  a  part  of  what  is  supposed 
to  be  a  kinniconecke,  or  pouch,  two  meshes  of  a  fishing  net,  and  a 
piece  of  what  is  supposed  to  be  the  raw  material,  and  of  which 
the  fishing  net,  pouch  and  moccasins  were  made.  Also,  a  bowl, 
or  cup,  containing  about  a  pint,  cut  out  of  wood,  found  also  in  the 
cave  ;  and  lately,  there  has  been  dug  out  of  it  the  skeleton  of  a 
human  body,  enveloped  in  a  matting  similar  to  that  of  the  pouch. 
This  matting  is  substantially  like  those  of  the  plain  fabric,  taken 
from  the  copperas  cave  of  Tennessee,  and  the  saltpetrous  cavern 
near  Glasgow,  in  Kentucky." 

And  what  is  highly  remarkable,  and  worthy  the  attention  of 
antiquarians,  is,  that  they  all  have  a  perfect  resemblance  to  the 
fabrics  of  the  Sandwich,  Caroline,  and  the  Fcjee  islands,  in  the 
Pacific.  We  know  the  similitude  of  the  manufactured  articles, 
from  the  following  circumstance:  after  the  termination  of  the  war 
in  the  island  of  Toconroba, wherein  certain  citizens  of  the  United 
States  were  engaged  as  principals  or  allies,  many  articles  of  Fe- 
jce  manufacture  were  brought  to  New- York  by  the  victors.  Some 
of  them  agree  almost  exactly  with  the  fabrics  discovered  in  Ken- 
tucky and  Tennessee.  They  bear  a  strict  comparison,  the  marks 
of  a  similar  state  of  arts,  and  point  strongly  to  a  sameness  of 
origin  in  the  respective  people  who  prepared  them.  Notwithstand- 


296  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ing  the  distance  of  their  several  residences  at  the  present  time,  it? 
is  impossible  not  to  look  back  to  the  common  ancestry  of  the  Ma- 
lays, who  formerly  possessed  the  country  between  the  Alleghany 
mountains  and  the  Mississippi  river,  and  those  who  now  inhabit 
the  islands  of  the  Pacific  ocean. 

All  these  considerations  lead  to  the  belief  that  colonies  of  Aus- 
tralasians, or  Malays,  landed  in  North  America,  and  penetrated 
across  the  continent  in  process  of  time  to  the  region  lying  between 
the  great  lakes  and  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  There  they  resided,  and 
constructed  the  fortifications,  mounds  and  other  ancient  structures 
which  are  the  wonder  of  all  who  have  seen  them.  What  has  be- 
come of  them?  They  have  been  probably  overcome  by  the  more 
warlike  and  ferocious  hordes  that  entered  our  hemisphere  from 
the  northeast  of  Asia.  These  Tartars  of  the  higher  latitudes  have 
issued  from  the  great  hive  of  nations,  and  desolated  in  the  course 
of  their  migrations,  the  southern  tribes  of  America,  as  they  have 
done  those  of  Asia  and  Europe.  The  greater  part  of  the  present 
American  natives  are  of  the  Tartar  stock,  the  descendants  of  the 
hardy  warriors  who  destroyed  the  weaker  Malays  that  preceded 
them.  An  individual  of  their  exterminated  race  now  and  then 
rises  from  the  tomb,  by  which  their  identity  of  origin  is  ascer- 
tained. 

In  a  communication  of  Samuel  L.  Mitchell  to  De  Witt  Clinton, 
1826,  he  remarks  that  "  the  parallel  between  the  people  of  Ame- 
rica and  Asia  affords  this  important  conclusion,  that  on  both  con- 
tinents the  hordes  dwelling  in  higher  latitudes  have  overpowered 
the  more  civilized  though  feebler  inhabitants  of  the  countries  situ- 
ated towards  the  equator." 

As  the  Tartars  have  overrun  China,  so  the  Aztecas  subdued 
Mexico;  as  the  Huns  and  Alans  desolated  Italy,  so  the  Chippewas 
and  Iroquois  prostrated  the  pepulous  settlements  on  both  banks  of 
the  Ohio.  The  surviving  race,  in  these  terrible  conflicts  between 
the  different  nations  of  the  ancient  native  residents  of  North  Ame- 
rica, is  evidently  that  of  the  Tartars. 

The  exterminated  race,  in  the  savage  intercourse  between  the 
nations  of  North  America,  in  ancient  days,  appears  clearly  to 
have  been  that  of  the  Malays.  The  bodies  and  shrouds  and  cloth- 
ing of  those  individuals  have,  within  a  few  years,  been  discovered 
in  the  caverns  of  saltpetre  and  copperas,within  the  States  of  Ken- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  297 

tucky  and  Tennessee.  Their  entire  dried  or  exsiccated  condition- 
has  led  intelligent  gentlemen,  who  have  seen  them,  to  call  them 
mummies. 

They  are  some  of  the  most  memorable  of  the  antiquities  that 
North  America  contains.  The  race  or  nation  to  which  they  be- 
longed is  extinct,  but  in  preceding  ages,  occupied  the  region  situ- 
ated between  lakes  Ontario  and  Erie  on  the  north,  and  of  Mexico 
on  the  south,  and  bounded  eastwardly  by  the  Alleghany  moun- 
tains, and  westwardly  by  the  Mississippi  river. 

But  notwithstanding  the  celebrity,  founded  on  the  great  erudition 
and  critical  research  of  Professor  Mitchell,  we  cannot  subscribe 
to  this  opinion  respecting  the  red-headed  mummy  now  in  the  New 
York  museum,  found  in  a  saltpetre  cave  in  Kentucky.  It  is  a 
well  known  fact,  that  invariably  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  who 
are  of  the  swarthy  or  black  complexion,  have  black  hair,  either 
straight  or  curled.  But  those  nations  belonging  to  the  white  class 
have  a  great  variety  of  color  of  the  hair — black,  white,  auburn, 
and  red.  We  are  sure  this  is  a  characteristic  of  the  two  classes 
of  mankind,  the  dark  and  the  white.  If  so,  then  the  Kentucky 
body  found  in  the  cave  is  not  of  Malay  origin,  but  of  Scandina- 
vian; of  whom,  as  a  nation,  it  is  said  that  the  predominant  color 
of  the  hair  was  red. 

And  further,  we  object,  that  the  traits  of  ancient  population 
found  in  Canada,  between  lakes  Ontario  and  Erie,  Jo  be  of  Malay 
origin,  but  rather  of  Scandinavian  also.  Our  reason  is  as  follows: 
it  is  unreasonable  to  suppose  the  Malays,  Australasian  and  Poly- 
nesian nations  of  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  who  were  originally 
from  the  eastern  coasts  of  China,  situated  in  mild  climates,  should 
penetrate  so  far  north  as  the  countries  in  Canada,  to  fix  their  ha- 
bitations ;  but  it  is  perfectly  natural  that  the  Scandinavian,  the 
Welch,  or  the  Scottish  clans,  all  of  whom  inhabit  cold,  very  cold 
countries,  should  be  delighted  with  such  a  climate  as  any  part  of 
either  Upper  or  Lower  Canada. 

And  farther,  as  a  reason  that  the  Malay  nations  never  inhabited 
any  part  of  the  Canadas,we  notice  that  in  those  regions  there  are 
found  no  traces  of  their  peculiar  skill  and  labor,  ascribed  to  them 
by  Professor  Mitchell,  which  are  the  great  mounds  of  the  west. — 
In  Canada  we  know  not  that  any  have  been  discovered;  but  other 
works  of  warlike  character  abound  there,  in  the  form  of  long  lines. 


"298  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

of  defensive  preparations,  corresponding  with  similar  works  in 
the  north  of  Europe,  and  in  many  places  in  the  State  of  New- 
York,  and  in  other  Atlantic  States,  as  before  noticed.  On  which 
account, we  do  not  hesitate  to  ascribe  the  ancient  traits  of  a  former 
civilized  population,  found  between  lakes  Ontario  and  Erie,  to  be 
of  European  rather  than  of  Malay  origin. 


Voyages  of  the  Ancients  from  Italy  and  Africa  to  the  Conti- 
nent of  America  and  its  adjacent  Islands. 

Calmet,  a  celebrated  writer,  and  well  known  as  an  ecclesiastic 
of  the  Catholic  communion, who  was  highly  versed  in  the  antiqui- 
ties of  past  ages,  brings  forward  the  most  classic  authors  of  an- 
cient times  respecting  the  discovery  of  America,  and  the  origin  of 
its  inhabitants. 

He  produces  the  writings  of  Hornius,  son  of  Theodosius  the 
Great,  and  Emperor  of  the  West,  who  lived  in  the  third  century, 
as  supported  by  the  writings  of  Strabo,  a  native  of  Cappadocia, 
and  was  a  historian  and  geographer  at  or  about  the  time  of  the 
commencement  of  the  Christian  era,  affirms  as  certain,  that  voy- 
ages from  Africa  and  Spain  into  the  Atlantic  ocean  were  both 
frequent  and  celebrated.  He  says  that  Eudoxius,  sailing  from  the 
Arabian  gulf  to  Ethiopia  and  India,  found  a  proio  of  a  ship  that 
had  been  wrecked,  which,  from  its  having  the  head  of  a  horse 
carved  on  it,  he  knew  belonged  to  a  Phoenician  bark  ;  and  some 
Gaditana  merchants  declared  it  to  have  been  a  fishing  vessel. — 
Laretius  relates  nearly  the  same  circumstance.  Hornius  says, 
(continues  Calmet,)  that  in  very  remote  ages  three  voyages  were 
made  to  America, the  first  by  the  Atlantes  or  descendants  of  Atlas, 
who  gave  his  name  to  the  Atlantic  ocean  and  the  island  of  Atlan- 
tides  :  this  name  (Atlantides,)  Plato,  who  lived  nearly  400  B.  C, 
appears  to  have  learned  from  the  Egyptian  priests,  the  general 
depositories  ©f  knowledge. 

The  second  voyage  mentioned  by  Hornius,  is  given  on  the  au- 
thority of  Diodorus  Siculus,  who  lived  in  the  time  of  Julius  Csesar, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  299 

who  says  that  the  Phoenicians  having  passed  the  columns  of  Her- 
cules, (out  of  the  Mediterranean  sea  at  the  strait  of  Gibraltar,) 
and  being  impelled  by  the  violence  of  the  wind,  abandoned  them- 
selves to  its  fury,  and  after  experiencing  many  tempests,  were 
thrown  upon  an  island  in  the  Atlantic  ocean,  distant  many  days' 
navigation  to  the  westward  of  the  coast  of  Lybia  or  Africa, which 
island  possessed  a  fertile  soil,  had  navigable  rivers,  and  there  were 
large  buildings  upon  it.  On  their  return,  by  the  means  of  other 
adventurers,  the  report  of  this  discovery  soon  spread  among  the 
Carthaginians  and  Romans,  the  former  being  harrassed  by  the 
wars  of  the  latter,  and  the  people  of  Mauritania  sent  a  colony  to 
that  island  with  great  secresy,  that  in  the  event  of  being  overcome 
by  their  enemies,  they  might  possess  a  place  of  safe  retreat. 

Such  were  the  descriptions  which  the  Phoenicians  gave  of  the 
beauty  and  fertility  of  this  island,  as  well  as  of  its  opulent  inhabi- 
tants, that  the  Romans  became  desirous  of  making  themselves 
masters  of  it,  and  settling  a  colony  there.  This  perplexed  the 
Carthaginians,  who  began  to  fear  that  their  countrymen  would  be 
enamored  of  a  fertility  so  much  praised,  and  abandon  their  native 
country  to  settle  there.  And  on  the  other  hand,  they  viewed  it 
as  a  safe  refuge  in  event  of  any  unforeseen  calamity,  or  if  their 
republic  in  Africa  should  fail,  to  which,  as  being  masters  of  the 
sea,  they  could  easily  retire,  to  secure  themselves  and  families — 
more  especially  as  the  region  was  unknown  to  other  nations. 

Aristotle,  who  lived  and  wrote  about  350  years  before  Christ, 
continues  Calmet,  in  his  book,  speaking  of  this  island,  says,  the 
magistrates  of  Carthage  having  observed  that  many  of  their  citi- 
zens who  had  undertaken  the  voyage  thither  had  not  returned, 
prohibited,  therefore,  under  the  penalty  of  capital  punishment,any 
farther  emigration,  and  ordered  those  who  had  remained  there  to 
return  to  their  country,  fearing  that  as  soon  as  the  affair  should 
be  known,  other  nations  would  endeavor  to  establish  there  a 
peaceable  commerce. 

But  there  is  an  account  of  another  voyage  into  the  Atlantic, 
spoken  of  by  Calmet,  which  was  anterior  to  the  preceding,  and  is 
attributed  to  Hercules,  who  by  Galleo,  (a  writer  of  the  sixteenth 
century, the  same  whose  books  and  opinions  about  the  Copernican 
system  of  astronomy  were  condemned  by  the  Popish  Council,  in 
1634,)  is  ranked  as  contemporary  with  Moses,  who  lived  nearly 


300  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

1600  B.  C  This  Hercules,  the  strong  man  of  antiquity,  accord- 
ing to  heathen  mythology,  was  a  great  captain  and  leading  char- 
acter, chief  of  the  Canaaniles,  who  fled  from  Palestine,  from  the 
wars  of  Joshua,  and  went  to  Africa,  settling,  as  is  supposed,  on 
the  western  coast  of  that  country.  This  same  Hercules  is  sup- 
posed to  have  circumnavigated  the  globe,  and  is  spoken  of  as 
having  done  so  by  Diodorus,  and  that  he  founded  the  city  of  Lecta 
in  Septimania,  but  no  writer  has  pointed  out  its  situation.  Ame- 
rica may  have  been  that  country,  especially  as  Hercules  made 
voyages  into  the  Atlantic,  between  Africa  and  the  continent  of 
America  to  the  south. 

Calmet,  in  his  Commentary  on  the  Jugurthine  war,  states, 
in  the  history  of  the  kingdom  of  Numidia,  written  in  the  Punic 
language,  that  he  had  read  an  African  account  or  tradition  of  the 
arrival  in  that  country  of  Hercules,  with  an  army  of  Medes, 
Persians  and  Arminians.  These  soldiers,  he  says,  married  Ly- 
bian  women,  who  were  black,  and  that  their  language  impercep- 
tibly degenerated  from  its  original  purity,  and  in  process  of  time 
the  name  of  Medes  and  Arminians  became  changed  to  that  of 
Maurucii  or  Moors. 

There  is  a  strong  probability  that  the  Romans  and  Carthagini- 
ans, even  300  B.  C,  were  well  acquainted  with  the  existence  of 
this  country,  obtained  by  these  early  navigators,  Hercules, Votan, 
the  Carthaginians  and  Phoenicians:  hence,  as  we  have  argued  in 
various  parts  of  this  work, the  tokens  of  the  presence  of  the  Greeks, 
Romans,  Persians  and  Carthaginians  appear  in  many  parts  of  the 
continent. 

This  opinion  is  believed  by  many  of  the  early  Spanish  writers-,. 
who  have  written  on  the  subject  of  the  first  population  of  this 
country,  and  have  concluded,  from  the  strongest  evidence,  that 
the  Carthaginians,  a  people  who  were  powerful  some  hundreds  of 
years  before  Christ,  and  who  were  the  eternal  enemies  of  the 
Romans,  have  had  much  to  do  in  colonizing  America,  as  well 
also  as  the  ancient  Tyrians,  who  before  they  had  become  amal- 
gamated with  the  Tyrians  were  Hivites,  or  serpent  people,  one 
of  the  nations  who  peopled  ancient  Canaan,  and  fled  from  the 
arms  of  Joshua  to  Africa,  and  in  process  of  time  eame  from  thence 
to  America,  and  built  the  city  of  Otolum. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  301 


Further  Remarks  on  the  Subject  of  Human   Complexions. 

As  to  the  curious  subject  of  the  different  complexions  of  man,  I 
consider,  says  Dr.  Mitchell,  the  human  family  under  three  divi- 
sions : 

1st.  The  tawny  man,  comprehending  the  Tartars,  Malays, 
Chinese,  the  American  Indians,  of  every  tribe,  Lascars,  and  other 
people  of  the  same  cast  and  breed. 

2d.  The  white  man,  inhabiting  the  countries  of  Asia  and  Eu- 
rope, situated  north  of  the  Mediterranean  sea  ;  and  in  the  course 
of  his  adventures,  settling  all  over  the  world,  among  whom  I 
reckon  the  Greenlanders  and  the  Esquimaux  nations. 

3d.  The  black  man,  whose  proper  residence  is  in  the  regions 
south  of  the  Mediterranean,  particularly  towards  the  interior  of 
Africa.  The  people  of  Papua  and  Van  Dieman's  Land  seem  to 
be  of  this  class. 

It  is  generally  supposed,  and  by  many  able  and  ingenious  men, 
that  external  physical  causes,  and  combination  of  circumstances, 
which  they  call  climate,  have  wrought  all  these  changes  in  the 
human  form  and  complexion.  I  do  not,  however,  think  them  ca- 
pable of  explaining  the  differences  which  exist  among  the  nations, 
on  this  principle.  There  is  an  internal  physical  cause  of  the 
greatest  moment,  which  has  scarcely  been  mentioned.  This  is 
the  generative  influence.  If  by  the  act  of  modelling  the  constitu- 
tion in  the  embryo  and  foetus,  a  predisposition  to  gout,  madness, 
scrofula  and  consumption  may  be  engendered,  we  may  rationally 
conclude,  with  the  sagacious  d'Azara,  that  the  procreative  power 
may  also  shape  the  natures,  tinge  the  skin,  and  give  other  peculi 
arities  to  the  form  of  man. — (Am.  Anlq.  p.  335.) 

This  idea  of  the  three  original  complexions,  black,  tawny  and 
white, we  have  supposed  was  realized  in  the  person  of  Noah's  three 
sons,  Shem,  Ham  and  Japheth;  and  although  Dr.  Mitchell  has 
not  fixed  on  a  starting  place,  he  has,  nevertheless,  admitted  the 
principle,  and  has  referred  the  cause  of  complexion  and  shape  to 
the  procreative  and  generative  act,  excluding  totally  any  influence 
which  climate  or  food  may  be  supposed  to  have,  as  has  been  con- 


302  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

tended  by  many;  which,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  understand  his 
meaning,  is  referring  the  complexions  of  the  human  race  imme- 
diately to  the  arbitrary  act  of  God.  To  this  doctrine  we  most 
cordially  subscribe,  because  it  is  simple,  natural  and  reasonable, 
the  very  way  in  which  the  Creator  works.  First  fixing  the  prin- 
ciples of  nature,  as  gravitation. and  motion,  which  keep  the  worlds 
in  their  courses.  Were  it  not  for  these,  all  would  stand  still,  and 
nature  would  die.  Fire,  in  its  endless  variations,  breathes  through 
all  matter,  expands  the  leaves  of  all  forests,  and  adorns  them  with 
all  flowers,  gives  motion  to  the  air,  which,  in  that  motion,  is  call- 
ed the  winds  of  heaven.  Fire  gives  liquescency  to  the  waters  of 
the  globe  :  were  it  not  for  this,  all  fluids  that  now  move  over  the 
earth  in  rivers,  brooks  and  springs,  or  oceans,  or  passes  by  sub- 
terranean channels  through  the  earth,  or  circulates  in  the  pores  of 
trees  and  herbage,  with  the  watery  fluids  of  all  animated  life, 
would  stand  still,  would  congeal,  would  freeze  to  one  universal 
mass  of  death. 

Also,  in  the  secret  embryo  of  earth's  productions,  as  in  all 
vegetation,  all  animals,  and  all  human  beings,  is  fixed  the 
principle  of  variety.  Were  it  not  for  this,  what  vast  confusion 
would  ensue  !  If  all  human  beings  looked  alike,  and  all  human 
voices  sounded  alike,  there  would  be  an  end  to  society — to  so- 
cial order — to  the  distinctions  between  friend  and  foe,  relatives 
and  strangers  ;  conversation  would  be  misapplied — identity  at  an 
end.  Subjects  of  investigation  and  research,  arts  and  science, 
could  have  no  objects  to  fix  upon.  Such  a  state  of  things  would 
be  a  fearful  retrograde  toward  a  state  of  insensibility  and  non- 
existence. 

And  is  it  not  also  as  evident,  that  God  has  fixed,  as  well  the 
secret  principle  which  produces  complexion,  as  it  appears  in  an 
unmixed  state  in  the  human  subject,  as  that  he  has  the  other  prin- 
ciples just  rehearsed,  and  equally  as  arbitrarily.  Vegetation  mixes 
and  in  this  way  gives  varieties  in  form,  color  and  flavor,  not 
strictly  original.  Also,  the  original  complexions,  in  their  pure 
state  of  black,  tawny  and  white,  have  also  by  mixtures  produced 
their  varieties;  but  at  the  outset,  in  the  embryo,  there  must  have 
been  a  first  predisposing  principle  to  each  of  these  complexions, 
fixed  on  a  more  permanent  basis  than  that  of  food  and  climate — 
or  else  food  and  climate,  after  these  had  made   a  white  race  of 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  303 

men,  or  a  tawny  race  black,  might  be  expected  in  due  time,  if 
moved  to  a  climate  favoring,  to  change  them  all  back  again,  as  at 
first,  but  this  is  contrary  to  all  experience  on  the  subject,  in  all 
ages  and  climates  of  the  earth.  Therefore,  we  fix  on  the  idea  of 
a  first  principle,  placed  in  the  generative  powers  of  the  sons  of 
Noah,  from  whom  their  several  progenies  derived  the  black,  the 
red  or  tawny,  and  the  white,  in  all  the  simplicity  and  beauty  of 
natural  operation. 

This  curious  subject,  with  the  amount  of  argument  on  both 
sides  of  the  question,  (that  is,  whether  human  complexions  are 
produced  by  food  and  climate,  or  are  original,)  is  in  a  masterly 
manner  attended  to  in  the  American  edition  of  the  new  Edinburgh 
Encyclopedia,  vol.  6.  In  that  work,  it  is  shown  that  climate,  in 
hundreds  of  instances  which  respect  the  complexions  of  all  the 
nations  known  on  the  globe,  are  found  unchangeable.  In  the  tor- 
rid climes,  both  the  white  and  the  black,  with  all  the  intermediate 
shades  between  the  two  extremes,  are  found,  as  also  the  black 
with  curled  hair  in  the  northern  regions,  in  many  countries  of  the 
old  world. 

"As,  therefore,  the  dark  complexioned  varieties  of  mankind  are 
found  near  the  poles — as  people  of  the  same  complexion  are  found 
over  the  whole  continent  of  America,  under  all  its  various  cli- 
mates— as  there  are  numerous  instances  of  comparative  fairness 
of  complexion  under  the  heat  of  a  burning  climate — as  radical 
differences  of  complexion  are  found  in  the  same  regions,  and  even 
among  the  same  people — and  as  there  are  numerous  instances 
where  the  original  complexion  has  remained  permanent,  notwith- 
standing it  has  been  exposed  to  a  change  of  climate  for  centuries, 
it  may  be  fairly  inferred  that  the  characteristic  complexions  of  the 
different  varieties  of  the  human  race  are  not  the  result  of  climate. 
— (Encyclopedia,  as  above,  p.  670. 

In  another  communication,  which  in  part  was  on  the  same  sub- 
ject, though  addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  the  American  Antiqua- 
rian Society,  Dr.  Mitchell  says  :  "In  that  memoir  (alluding  to  the 
one  addressed  to  De  Witt  Clinton,)  I  maintained  the  doctrine  that 
there  were  but  three  originarl  varieties  of  the  human  race — the 
tawny  man,  the  white  man  and  the  black — a  division  which  I  am 
pleased  to  observe  the  incomparable  author  of  the  Animal  King- 
dom has  adopted  in  France. 


504  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

The  former  of  these  seems  to  have  occupied,  in  the  earliest  days, 
the  plain  watered  by  the  Euphrates  and  the  Tigris,  while  the  white 
Arab,  as  he  has  sometimes  been  called,  was  found  in  the  regions 
north  of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  and  the  sable  Arab,  or  negro,  in- 
habited to  the  south  of  that  expanse  of  water. 

Of  the  brown  or  tawny  variety,  are  the  eastern  Asiatics,  and 
western  Americans,  divisible  into  two  great  stocks,  or  genealo- 
gies ;  first,  those  in  high  latitudes,  whom  I  call  Tartars  ;  and, 
second,  those  who  inhabit  low  or  southern  latitudes,  whom  I  con- 
sider as  Malays.  I  am  convinced  that  terms  Tartar  and  Malay, 
for  the  present  purposes  of  reasoning,  are  equally  applicable  to  the 
two  great  continents  ;  and  that,  with  the  exception  of  the  negro 
colonies  in  Papau,  and  a  few  other  places,  the  islanders  in  the  Pa- 
cific are  Malays. 

My  observations  led  me,  several  years  ago,  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  two  great  continents  Asia  and  America,  were  peopled  by 
similar  races  of  men  ;  and  that  America,  as  well  as  Asia,  had  its 
Tartars  in  the  norlh,  and  its  Malays  in  the  south.  America  has 
had  her  Scythians,  her  Alans,  and  her  Huns  ;  but  there  has  been 
no  historian  to  record  their  formidable  migrations,  and  their  bar- 
barous achievements  ;  how  little  of  past  events  do  we  know. 

The  comparison  of  the  language  spoken  by  these  Asiatic  and 
American  nations,  colonies  and  tribes,  respectively,  was  begun  by 
our  learned  fellow  citizen,  the  late  Dr.  B.  S.  Barton.  The  work 
has  been  continued  by  the  Adelangs  and  Vater,  distinguished  phi- 
lologists of  Germany.  Their  profound  inquiry  into  the  structure 
of  language  and  the  elements  of  speech,  embraces  a  more  correct 
and  condensed  body  of  information  concerning  the  original  tongues 
of  the  two  Americas,  than  was  ever  compiled  and  arranged  before. 
Their  Mithridates,  a  book  on  languages,  surpasses  all  similar  per- 
formances that  have  ever  been  achieved  by  man. 

One  of  my  intelligent  correspondents,  who  has  surveyed  with 
his  own  eyes  the  region  watered  by  the  Ohio,  wrote  me  very  late- 
ly a  letter  containing  the  following  paragraph  : 

"I  have  adopted  your  theory  respecting  the  Malays,  Polynesians 
and  Alleghanians.  This  last  nation,  so  called  by  the  Lenni-Ienapi, 
€>r  primitive  stock  of  our  hunting  Indians,  was  that  which  inhabited 
the  United  States,  before  the  Tartar  tribes  came  and  destroyed 
them,  and  who  erected  the  mounds,  works,  fortifications  and  tem- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  305 

pies  of  the  western  country.  This  historical  fact  is  now  proved 
beyond  a  doubt,  by  the  traditions  of  the  Lcmi-lenapi  Indian,  pub- 
lished by  Heckewelder,  in  the  work  issued  by  the  Philosophical 
Society  of  Philadelphia.  I  may  add,  that  Mr.  Clifford,  of  Lexing- 
ton, Kentucky,  has  proved  another  identity  between  the  Allegha- 
nians  and  Mexicans,  by  ascertaining  that  many  supposed  fortifica- 
tions were  temples,  particularly  that  of  Circleville  in  Ohio,  where 
human  sacrifices  were  one  of  their  rites.  He  has  discovered  their 
similarity  with  the  ancient  Mexican  temples,  described  by  Hum- 
boldt, and  has  examined  the  bones  of  victims  in  heaps,  the  shells 
used  in  sacred  rites,  as  in  India,  and  the  idol  of  baked  clay,  con- 
sisting of  three  heads." 

This  opinion  of  human  sacrifices  was  fully  confirmed  by  the  tes- 
timony of  Mr.  Manut  1  Liea,  during  the  summer  of  1818.  He,  on 
his  return  from  the  trading  posts  on  the  Upper  Missouri,  informed 
his  fellow  citizens  at  St.  Louis,  that  the  Wolf  tribe  of  the  Pawnee 
Indians  yet  followed  the  custom  of  immolating  human  victims. 
He  purchased  a  Spanish  prisoner,  a  boy  about  ten  years  old, 
whom  they  intended  to  offer  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  Great  Star  ;  and 
they  did  put  to  death,  by  transfixing  on  a  sharp  pole,  as  an  offer- 
ing to  the  object  of  their  adoration,  the  child  of  a  Paddo  woman, 
who  being  a  captive  herself,  and  devoted  to  that  sanguinary  and 
horrible  death,  made  her  escape  on  horseback,  leaving  her  new 
born  offspring  behind.  The  triad,  or  trinity  of  heads,  (see  the 
plate)  instantly  brings  to  mind  a  similar  article,  figured  by  the  In- 
dians of  Asia,  and  described  by  Mr.  Maurice  in  his  Oriental 
Researches. 

I  received,  a  short  time  since,  directly  from  Mexico,  several 
pieces  of  cloth,  painted  in  the  manner  that  historians  have  often 
represented.  I  find  the  material  in  not  a  single  instance  to  be  cot- 
ton, as  has  been  usually  affirmed.  There  is  not  a  thread  indica- 
ting the  use  of  the  spinning  wheel,  nor  an  intertexture  showing 
that  the  loom  or  shuttle  was  employed.  In  strictness,  therefore, 
there  is  neither  cotton  nor  cloth  in  the  manufacture.  The  fabrics, 
on  the  contrary,  are  uniformly  composed  of  pounded  bark,  Drob- 
ablyof  the  mulberry  tree,  and  resembles  the  bark  cloths  prepared 
to  this  day,  in  the  Friendly  and  Society  islands,  in  the  Pacific 
ocean,  as  nearly  as  one  piece  of  linen,  or  one  blanket  of  wool  re- 
sembles another. 

20 


306  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

I  derive  this  conclusion  from  a  comparison  of  the  several  sorts; 
of  goods.  They  have  been  examined  together  by  several  excel- 
lent judges.  For,  at  a  meeting  of  the  New  York  Literary  and 
Philosophical  society,  in  February,  1819,  I  laid  these  specimens  of 
bark  cloth  with  their  respective  colorings  and  paintings,  from 
Mexico,  Otaheite  and  Tongataboo,  upon  the  table,  for  the  exami- 
nation of  its  members.  All  were  satisfied  that  there  was  a  most 
striking  similitude  among  the  several  articles.  Not  only  the  fabric 
but  the  colors,  and  the  materials  of  which  they  apparently  con- 
sisted, as  well  as  the  probable  manner  of  putting  them  on,  seemed 
to  me  strong  proofs  of  the  sameness  of  origin,  in  the  different 
tribes  of  a  people  working  in  the  same  way,  and  retaining  a  same- 
ness in  their  arts  of  making  a  thing,  which  answers  the  purpose 
of  paper,  of  cloth  and  a  material  for  writing  and  painting  upon. 

Soon  after  the  arrival  of  these  rolls  from  New  Spain,  filled  with 
hieroglyphics,  and  imitative  characters,  I  received  a  visit  from 
three  natives  of  South  America,  born  at  St.  Bias,  just  beyond  the 
isthmus  of  Darien,  near  the  equater.  They  were  of  the  Malay 
race,  by  their  physiegnomy,  form  and  general  appearance.  Their 
dark  brown  skins,  their  thin  beards,  the  long,  black,  straight  hair 
of  their  heads,  their  small  hands  and  feet,  and  their  delicate  frame 
of  body,  all  concur  to  mark  their  near  resemblance  to  the  Austral- 
asians ;  while  the  want  of  high  cheek  bones,  and  little  eyes,  placed 
wide  apart,  distinguished  them  sufficiently  from  the  Tartars.  Says 
M.  de  la  Salle,  theBiscatongues,a  tribe  of  western  Indians,  are  cal- 
led weepers,  as  on  the  approach  of  a  stranger  they  fall  a  weeping. 
But  that  which  is  yet  more  remarkable,  and  perhaps  very  reason- 
able in  that  custom,  is  that  they  weep  much  more  at  the  birth  of 
their  children,  than  at  their  death  ;  because  the  latter  is  esteemed 
only  by  them  as  it  were  a  journey  or  voyage,  from  whence  they 
may  return  after  the  expiration  of  a  certain  time  ;  but  they  look 
upon  their  nativity  as  an  inlet  into  an  ocean  of  dangers  and  misfor. 
tunes.  Compare  this  with  a  passage  in  the  Terpischore  of  Hero- 
dotus, who  flourished  about  450  years  before  Christ,  chap.  4th, 
where,  in  describing  the  Thracians,  he  observes,  ''that  the  Trausi 
have  a  general  uniformity  with  the  rest  of  the  Thracians,  (a  branch 
of  the  most  ancient  Greeks.)  On  the  birth  of  a  child,  it  is  placed 
in  the  midst  of  a  circle  of  its  relations,  who  lament  aloud  the  evils 
which,  as  a    human  being,  he  must  necessarily  undergo,  all  of 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  307 

which  supposed  evils,  they  particularly  enumerate  to  the  child, 
though  it  understands  it  not.'' — (Beloe's  Translation.) 

To  find  a  custom  among  one  of  the  Indian  nations,  in  America, 
which  so  strikingly  agrees  with  that  of  the  Thraeian,  a  branch  of 
the  most  ancient  Greek  people,  who  existed  many  hundred  years 
before  Christ,  is  very  extraordinary,  and  would  seem  to  justify  a 
belief  that  we  have  the  descendants  of  the  Greeks  in  our  western 
forests  ;  which  also  argues  that  the  ancestors  of  the  tribe  having 
this  curious  custom,  came  early  to  America,  or  they  could  not 
have  so  perfectly  retained  this  practice,  in  their  wanderings  over 
Asia,  who  would  inevitably  have  lost  their  ancient  manners,  by 
amalgamations.  We  have  before  shown  in  this  work,  that  Greeks 
visited  South  America^  in  the  time  of  Alexander  the  great,  who  for 
aught  that  can  be  objected,  may  have  left  a  colony,  and  the  Bis- 
catongues  may  bother  descendants. 

"There  is  an  opinion  among  the  Seneca  nation  of  the  Iroquois 
confederacy,  to  this  day,  that  eclipses  of  the  sun  and  moon  are 
caused  by  a  Manitau,  or  bad  Spirit,  who  mischievously  intercepts 
the  light  intended  to  be  shed  upon  the  earth  and  its  inhabitants. 
Upon  such  occasions,  the  greatest  solicitude  exists.  All  the  indi- 
viduals of  the  tribe  feel  a  strong  desire  to  drive  away  the  demon, 
and  to  remove  thereby  the  impediment  to  the  transmission  of  lumi- 
nous rays.  For  this  purpose,  they  go  forth,  and  by  crying,  shout- 
ing, drumming  and  the  firing  of  guns,  endeavor  to  frighten  him, 
and  they  never  fail  in  their  object,  for  by  courage  and  persever- 
ance, they  infallibly   drive  him  off*.      His  retreat  is  succeeded  by 

return  ot  the  obstructed  light.  Something  of  the  same  sort  is 
practised  among  the  Chippeways,  when  an  eclipse  happens.  The 
belief  among  them  is,  that  there  is  a  battle  between  the  sun  and 
moon,  which  intercepts  the  light.  Their  great  object,  therefore, 
is  to  stop  the  fighting  and  separate  the  combatants.  They  think 
these  ends  can  be  accomplished  by  withdrawing  the  attention  of 
the  contending  parties  from  each  other,  and  diverting  it  to  the  Chip- 
peways themselves.  They  accordingly  fill  the  air  with  noise  and 
outcry.  Such  sounds  are  sure  to  attract  the  attention  of  the  war- 
ring powers.  Their  philosophers  have  the  satisfaction  of  knowing 
that  the  strife  never  lasted  long  after  their  clamor  and  noisy  oper- 
ations began.  Being  thus  induced  to  be  peaceful,  the  sun  and 
moon  separate,  and  light  is  restored  to  the  Chippeways. 


308  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Now  it  is  reported,  on  the  authority  of  one  of  the  Jesuit  fathers 
of  the  French  mission  in  India,  that  a  certain  tribe  or  people, whom 
he  visited  there,  ascribed  eclipses  to  the  presence  of  a  great  drag- 
on. This  creature,  by  the  interposition  of  his  huge  body,  obstruc- 
ted the  passage  of  light  to  our  world  ;  they  were  persuaded  they 
could  drive  him  away  by  terrifying  sounds,  in  which  they  were 
always  successful,  as  the  dragon  soon  retired  in  great  alarm, 
when  the  eclipses  immediately  terminated. 


Cannibalism  in  America. 

The  practice  of  cannibalism  exits  in  full  force,  in  the  Fejee 
islands.  A  particular  and  faithful  account  of  it  is  contained  in  the 
14th  volume  of  the  Medical  Repository,  chaps.  209,  and  215. — 
The  history  of  the  five  Indian  nations  dependent  upon  the  govern- 
ment of  New  York,  by  Dr.  Colden,  page  185 — 6,  shows  that  the 
ferocious  and  vindictive  spirit  of  the  conqurer  led  him  occasionally 
to  feast  upon  his  captive.  The  Ottawas  having  taken  an  Iroquois 
prisoner,  made  a  soup  of  his  flesh.  The  like  has  been  repeatedly 
done  since,  on  select  occasions,  by  other  tribes.  Governor  Cass, 
of  Michigan,  informed  me,  that  among  the  Miamis,  there  was  a 
standing  committee,  consisting  of  seven  warriors,  whose  business 
it  was  to  perform  the  man  eating,  required  by  public  authority. 
The  last  of  their  cannibal  feasts  was  on  the  body  of  a  white  man, 
of  Kentucky,  about  forty  years  ago.  The  appointment  of  the 
committee  to  eat  human  flesh,  has  since  that  time,  gradually  be- 
come obselete  ;  but  the  oldest  and  last  member  of  this  cannibal  so- 
ciety is  well  remembered,  and  died  only  a  few  years  ago. 

A  very  circumstantial  description  of  a  cannibal  feast,  where  a 
soup  was  made  of  the  body  of  an  Englishman,  at  Michilimackinack, 
about  the  year  1760,  is  given  by  Alexander  Henry,  Esq.,  in  his 
book  of  travels  through  Canada  and  the  Indian  territories.  In 
that  work  it  was  stated  that  man  eating  was  then,  and  always  had 
been,  practised  among  the  Indian  nations,  on  returning  from  war, 
or  on  overcoming  their  enemies,  for  the  purpose  of  giving  them 
courage  to  attack,  and  resolution  to  die." — (Medical  Repository, 
vol.  14,  pp.  261,  262.) 

As  extraordinary  as  this  may  appear,  we  are  informed  by  Baron 
Humboldt,  in  his  personal  narrative,  that  "in  Egypt,  in  the  13th 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    'WEST.  309 

century,  five  or  six  hundred  years  ago,  the  habit  of  eating  human 
flesh  pervaded  all  classes  of  society.  Extraordinary  snares  were 
spread,  for  physicians  in  particular.  They  were  called  to  attend 
persons  who  pretended  to  be  sick,  but  who  were  only  hungry,  and 
it  was  not  in  order  to  be  consulted,  but  devoured."  Even  now, 
the  whole  population  of  the  large  island,  Sumatra,  in  the  Indian 
ocean,  oposite  China,  are  Canabals.  Notwithstanding  they  have 
as  a  people,  a  regular  government,  yet  all  criminals,  who  are 
reckoned  worthy  of  death  by  their  laws,  are  without  exception,  de- 
voured alive.  But  not  in  a  savage  and  brutal  manner,  but  most 
genteelly  ;  as  each  person  concerned  in  the  affair  surround  the 
condemned  person  as  he  is  bound  to  a  post,  and  in  regular  order 
cut  away  such  part  as  the  appetite  fancies,  eating  it  with  pepper 
and  salt,  with  great  delight  and  relish  ;  while  the  poor  wretch 
stands  howling  with  pain,  as  he  is  eaten  before  his  own  eyes — till 
he  falls  down  dead  by  loss  of  blood. — Masonic  Record,  page  123, 
No.  1,  for  1830. 

Situated  west,  northwest  and  southwest  of  North  America,  in 
the  Pacific  ocean,  are  a  vast  number  of  islands,  scattered  over  all 
that  immense  body  of  water,  extending  in  groups  quite  across  to 
China,  along  the  whole  Asiatic  coast.  The  general  character  of 
these  islanders  is  similar,  though  somewhat  diversified  in  language, 
in  complexion  arc  much  the  same,  which  is  copper,  with  the  ex- 
ception only  of  now  and  then  people  of  the  African  descent,  and 
those  of  the  Japan  islands,  who  are  white. 

By  examining  Morse,  we  find  them  in  the  practice  of  sacrific- 
ing human  beings,  and  also  of  devouring  them,  as  we  find  the  sav- 
ages of  America  were  accustomed  to  do  from  time  immemorial  : 
having  but  recently  suspended  the  appalling  custom. 

It  is  doubtless  a  fact,  that  the  earliest  tribes  who  separated  from 
the  immediate  regions  about  Ararat,  passed  onward  to  the  east, 
across  the  countries  now  called  Persia,  Bucharia,  and  the  Chinese 
empire,  till  they  reached  the  sea,  or  Pacific  ocean,  opposite  the 
American  continent. 

From  thence,  in  process  of  time,  on  account  of  an  increase  of 
population,  they  left  the  main  continent,  in  search  of  the  islands, 
and  passing  from  one  group  to  another,  till  all  those  islands  be- 
came peopled,  and  until  they  reached  even  the  western  coast  of 
not  only  South  but  North  America. 


310  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

At  the  same  time,  tribes  from  the  same  region  of  Ararat,  trav- 
elled westward,  passing  overall  Europe  and  Southward,  filling  the 
regions  of  Africa,  and  the  islands  in  the  Atlantic  ocean  opposite 
the  coasts  of  South  and  North  America,  till  they  also  reached  the 
main  land,  meeting  their  fellows,  after  having  each  of  them  circum- 
ambulated half  the  earth. 

And  having  started  from  the  regions  of  Ararat  and  the  tower  of 
Babel,  with  languages  differing  one  from  another,  and  having  also 
in  process  of  time,  acquired  habits  arising  from  differences  of  cir- 
cumstances, mostly  dissimilar  one  from  the  other,  wars  for  the 
mastery  the  most  dreadful  must  have  ensued,  each  viewing  the 
others  as  intruders,  from  whence  they  knew  not.  This  is  evident 
from  the  traditions  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Americas  ;  some  tribes 
pointing  to  the  east,  others  to  the  west,  and  others  again  to  the 
north,  as  the  way  from  whence  their  ancestors  came.  According 
to  Clavigero,  the  ancestors  of  the  nations  which  peopled  Anahuac, 
now  called  New  Spain,  might  have  passed  from  the  northern 
countries  of  Europe,  fas  Norway,)  to  the  northern  parts  of  Amer- 
ica, on  the  coast  of  Labrador,  which  is  called  British  America  and 
Canada  ;  also  from  the  most  eastern  parts  of  Asia  to  the  most 
western  parts  of  America.  This  conclusion  is  founded  on  the 
constant  and  general  tradition  of  those  nations,  which  unanimous- 
ly say,  that  their  ancestors  came  to  Anahuac,  or  New  Spain,  from 
the  countries  of  the  north  and  northwest.  This  tradition  is  con- 
firmed by  the  remains  of  many  ancient  edifices,  built  by  those 
people  in  their  migrations.  In  a  journey  made  by  the  Spaniads 
in  1606,  more  than  two  hundred  years  since,  from  New  Mexico 
to  the  river  which  they  call  Tizan,  six  hundred  miles  from  Ana- 
huac towards  the  northwest,  they  found  there  some  large  edifices 
and  met  with  some  Indians  who  spoke  the  Mexican  language,  and 
who  told  them  that  a  few  day's  journey  from  that  river,  towards 
the  north,  was  the  kingdom  of  Tolan,  and  many  other  inhabited 
places,  from  whence  the  Mexicans  migrated.  In  fact,  the  whole 
population  of  Anahuac  have  usually  affirmed,  that  towards  the 
north  were  the  kingdoms  and  provinces  of  Tolan,  Aztalan,  Capal- 
lan,  and  several  others,  which  are  all  Mexican  names,  now  so  de- 
signated ;  but  were  we  to  trace  these  names  to  their  origin,  they 
would  be  found  to  be  Mongol  or  Mogul  origin,  from  Asia.  Botn- 
rini,  or  Bouterone,  a   learned   Antiquarian   of  Paris,  of  the  17th 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WE8T  311 

century,  says,  that  in  the  ancient  paintings  of  the  Taltecas,  a  na- 
tion of  Mexico,  or  more  anciently  called  Anahuac  was  represented 
the  migrations  of  their  uncestors  through  Asia,  and  the  northern 
countries  of  America,  until  they  established  themselves  in  Tolan. 
(Morse,  p.  618.) 

This  river  Tizan  is,  unquestionably  the  river  Columbia,  which 
belongs  to  the  territory  owned  by  the  United  States,  bordering  on 
the  coast  of  the  Pacific,  in  latitude  47  degrees  north  ;  which  from 
Anahuac,  in  Mexico,  is  about  that  distance  (600  miles)  and  this 
river  being  the  only  one  of  much  size  emptying  into  the  sea  on 
that  side  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  between  the  latitude  of  Mexico 
and  the  latitude  of  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia,  is  the  reason  why 
that  river,  may  almost  with  certainty,  be  supposed  the  very  Indian 
Tizan.  But  still  farther  north,  several  day's  journey,  were  the 
kingdoms  and  provinces  of  Tolon,  Aztalan,  and  Capallan,  which 
were  probably  in  the  latitude  with  the  northern  parts  of  the  United 
State's  lands  west  of  the  Rocky  mountains,  and  filling  all  the  re- 
gions east  as  far  as  the  head  waters  of  the  great  western  rivers  ; 
thence  down  those  streams,  peopling  the  vast  alluvials  in  Indiana, 
Missouri,  Illinois,  Northwestern  Territory,  Ohio,  Kentucky,  Mis- 
sissippi, and  soon  to  the  gulf  of  Mexico. 

Although  those  kingdoms  and  provinces  spoken  of  by  the  natives 
of  Tizan,  to  these  Spanish  adventurers,  had  many  hundred  years 
before  been  vacated  of  their  population  and  grandeur  ;  yet  it  was 
natural  for  them  to  retain  the  tradition  of  their  numbers  and  ex- 
tent :  and  to  speak  of  them  as  then  existing,  which  as  to  latitude 
and  location,  was  true,  although  in  a  state  of  ruin,  like  the  edifices 
at  the  Tizan,  or  Columbia. 

In  an  address  delivered  at  New  York,  before  the  College  of 
Physicians,  by  Dr.  Mitchell,  which  relates  to  the  migrations  of 
Malays,  Tartars  and  Scandinavians,  we  have  the  following  :  "A 
late  German  writer,  professor  Vater,  has  published  at  Leipsig,  a 
book  on  the  population  of  America.  He  lays  great  stress  on  the 
tongues  spoken  by  the  aborigines,  and  dwells  considerably  upon 
the  unity  pervading  the  whole  of  them,*from  Chili  to  the  remotest 
district  of  North  America,  whether  of  Greenland,  Chippewa, Dele- 
ware,  Natick,  Totuaka,  Cora  or  Mexico.  Though  ever  so  singu- 
lar and  diversied,  nevertheless  the  same  peculiarity  obtains  among 
them  all,  which  cannot  be  accidental,  viz  :  the  whole  sagacity  of 


312  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

that  people  from  whom  the  construction  of  the  American  lan- 
guages and  the  gradual  invention  of  their  grammatical  forms  is 
derived,  has,  as  it  were,  selected  one  object,  and  over  this  diffused 
such  an  abundance  of  forms,  that  one  is  astonished,  while  only 
the  most  able  philologist  or  grammarian  of  languages,  by  assidu- 
ous study,  can  obtain  a  general  view  thereof. 

"In  substance,  the  author  (Prof.  Vater)  says,  that  through 
various  times  and  circumstances,  this  peculiar  character  is  pre- 
served. Such  unity,  such  direction  or  tendency,  compels  us  to 
place  the  origin  in  a  remote  period, when  one  original  tribe  or  peo- 
ple existed,  whose  ingenuity  and  judgment  enabled  them  to  exco- 
gitate or  invent  such  intricate  formations  of  language  as  could  not 
be  effaced  by  thousands  of  years,  nor  by  the  influence  of  zones  and 
climates. 

"  Mr. Vater  has  published  a  large  work,  entitled  Mithridates,  in 
which  he  has  given  an  extensive  comparison  of  all  the  Asiatic, 
African  and  American  languages,  to  a  much  greater  extent  than 
was  done  by  our  distinguished  fellow  citizen,  Mr.  Barton,  of 
Philadelphia,  professor  of  natural  history.  Dr.  Vater  concludes 
by  expressing  his  desire  to  unravel  the  mysteries  which  relate  to 
the  new  and  old  continents,  at  least  to  contribute  the  contents  of 
his  volume  towards  the  commencement  of  a  structure  which,  out 
of  the  ruins  of  dilacerated  human  tribes,  seeks  materials  for  an 
union  of  the  whole  human  race  in  one  origin  ;  which  some  have 
disputed,  notwithstanding  the  plain  statement  of  the  Bible  on  that 
subject,  which  is  a  book  entitled  to  the  term  antiquity,  paramount 
to  all  other  records  now  in  existence. 

"What  this  original  and  radical  language  was,  has  very  lately 
been  the  subject  of  inquiry  by  the  learned  Mr.  Mathieu,  of  Nancy, 
in  France.  The  Chevalier  Valentine,  of  the  order  of  St.  Michael, 
renewed  by  Louis  XVIII.,  informs  me  that  this  gentleman  has 
examined  Mr.  Winthrop's  description  of  the  curious  characters 
inscribed  upon  the  rock  at  Dighton,  Massachusetts,  as  published 
in  the  transactions  of  the  Boston  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences. 
He  thinks  them  hieroglyphics  which  he  can  interpret  and  explain, 
and  ascribes  them  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  ancient  Atlantic  island 
of  Plato,  called  by  him  Atalantis.  Mr.  Mathieu  not  only  professes 
to  give  the  sense  of  the  inscription,  but  also  to  prove  that  the 
tongues  spoken  by  the  Mexicans,  Peruvians,  and  other  occidental 


AND    DI8COVERIE6    IN    THE    WEST.  213 

or  western  people,  as  well  as  the  Greek  itself,  with  all  its  dialects 
and  ramifications,  were  but  derivations  from  the  language  of  the 
primitive  Atalantians  of  the  island  of  Plato," — of  which  we  have 
before  spoken  in  this  work. 


The  Atlantic  Nations  of  America. 

The  ocean  separating  Europe  and  Africa  from  America  is  yet 
called  the  Atlantic  ocean — our  littoral  States  are  called  the  At- 
lantic States.  The  Atlantes  of  North  Africa,  who  gave  their 
name  to  the  Atlas  mountains,  and  whose  descendants  exist  there 
as  yet,  under  the  names  of  Taurics,  Berbers,  Shelluh,  Showiah, 
&c,  were  one  of  the  primitive  nations  of  both  continents.  They 
came  to  America  soon  after  the  flood,  if  not  before,  colonized  and 
named  the  ocean,  and  the  islands  in  it,  as  well  as  America, which 
was  called  the  Great  Atlantis,  or  rather  Atala,  meaning  the  first 
or  main  land.  This  name  is  preserved  in  Hindoo  traditions.  The 
Atlantes  were  not  only  the  primitive  colonists  of  America,  but 
they  were  the  most  conspicuous  and  civilized.  Their  true  name 
was  Atalans.  They  may  have  been  the  founders  of  Otolum,  and 
many  other  ancient  cities  here  in  North  America.  Their  de- 
scendants exist  to  this  day  in  America,  under  the  names  of 
Talas,  or  Tarascas,  Atalalas,  Matalans,  Talcgawis,  Otalis,  or 
Tsutukis,Talahuicas,Cho7italas  or  Tsendalas,  &c,  from  Carolina 
to  Guatemala. 

When  Columbus  again  discovered  America,  he  and  the  earliest 
explorers  were  struck  with  the  similarity  between  many  American 
tribes  and  thc'Guanches  of  the  Canary  islands,  remains  of  the 
Oceanic  Atlantes,  in  features,  manners  and  speech.  Whether  the 
Haytians,  Cubans  and  Aruacs  were  genuine  Atlantes,  is  rather 
doubtful, ^because  their  language  is  more  akin  to  the  Pelagic  than 
the  Atlantic.  But  three  at  least  out  of  the  twenty-five  original 
nations  of  America  above  enumerated,  may  safely  be  deemed 
children  of  the  Atlantes.  They  are  the  ninth  or  Otalis,  the  tenth 
or  Atalans,  and  the  fourteenth  or  Chontals. 


314  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

This  could  be  proved  in  many  ways,  and  by  their  languages 
compared  with  those  of  their  African  brethren,  Taurics,Guanches, 
&c.  after  a  separation  of  several  thousand  years.  But  the  proofs 
would  fill  a  volume. 

Our  actual  Cherokis,  and  akin  tribes,  are  the  children  of  the 
first  branch,  named  Otalis :  this  was  their  original  name.  Adair, 
only  one  hundred  years  ago,  says  that  the  genuine  or  upland 
Cherokis  were  called  Otalis,  which  name  meant  mountaineers,  as 
in  Africa.  They  call  themselves  now  Tsulukis.  Our  name  of 
Cherokis  is  derived  from  the  word  Chelakis,  name  of  a  tribe. — 
They  have  not  the  sound  of  r  in  their  speech.  Only  one  tribe 
substitutes  r  to  I.  The  interesting  history  of  this  nation  shall  de- 
serve our  attention  hereafter.  The  Chontal  branch  or  nation  will 
come  under  notice  in  investigating  the  antiquities  of  Otolum,  or 
Palenque.  It  remains  here  to  survey  the  genuine  branch  of  Ata- 
lans — eldest,  perhaps,  of  the  American  Atlantes.  Among  this,the 
best  known  ('and  yet  hardly  known)  are  the  Tarascas  of  Michua- 
can,  in  West  Mexico,  the  brave  nation  that  first  asserted  the  late 
Mexican  independence.  Their  true  name  is  Tala,  and  Tala-s-ca, 
meaning  Tala-self-lhe,  or,  in  our  idiom,  the  very  self  Tala.  They 
have  no  r  in  their  speech,  and  this  name  was  changed  by  the 
Othmis  and  Mexicans  into  Tarascas. — (  See  grammar  of  their  lan- 
guage by  Basalenque,  Mexico,  17 14. ) 

From  this  interesting  little  work,  some  other  account  from  Vater 
and  the  Spanish  writers,  we  learn  something  of  their  language, 
which  is  yet  spoken,  and  may  be  thoroughly  studied.  We  also 
learn  that  they  formed  a  powerful  and  civilized  kingdom,  inde- 
pendent of  Mexico  at  the  Spanish  invasion,  which  became  the  ally 
of  the  Spaniards,  but  was  by  them  subdued  by  treachery  and  in- 
famous conduct.  But  we  learn  very  li  Itle  of  their  previous  histo- 
ry, and  the  little  known  is  buried  in  untranslated  Spanish  books. 
It  is  by  their  language  that  we  can  hr  pe  to  trace  their  origin  and 
most  remote  history.  Languages  do  not  lie,  says  Home  Tooke. 
They  reveal  what  time  has  buried  in  oblivion. 

We  have  been  struck  with  its  evident  analogy  with  the  Atlantic, 
Coptic,  Pelagic,Greek,  Latin  and  Italian  languages  of  Africa  and 
Europe,  both  in  words  and  structure,  in  spite  of  a  separation  of 
some  thousand  years.  This  language  is  rich,  beautiful  and  highly 
complex.     It  amalgamates  particles  to  modify  words,  as  in  the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  315 

Italian:  the  verbs  have  fifteen  modifications, as  in  Italian,  or  nearly 
so  :  they  can  be  compounded,  as  in  Greek.  It  admits  of  all  the 
Greek  rhetorical  figures:  the  plural  is  formed  by  x.  It  has  nearly 
all  the  European  vocal  sounds,  except  f  and  r  ;  also,  no  gn,  and 
no  11,  but  it  has  three  sibillant,  ts,  tz,  and  tzh. 

The  analogies  with  the  Italian  are  striking  in  the  following 
phrases,  and  some  even  appear  with  the  Saxon  English. 


English. 

Tala.              Italian. 

English. 

Tala. 

Italian. 

X  Thou 

Tiro              Tu 

1  I 

Hi 

Io 

2  Was  (wast) 

Esca              Sei  (fosti' 

> 

8  Was 

Esca 

Sie  (fui) 

3  Thou  who 

Thuqui         Tu  the 

3  I  who 

Hiquinini 

Io  che 

4  8poke 

Vandahara    Favtdasti 

4  Loved 

Pamphzah; 

tea    Amai 

English. 

Tala. 

Italian. 

1  Is  not 

Noxas          Non  e 

2  So  wise 

IMimi 

xcti    Amieo  ( 

>avio) 

3  As  I 

Isqui 

hi        Com'io 

Primitive  Origin  of  the  English  Language. 

BY  C.   S.   RAFINESQUE. 

The  best  work  on  the  philosophy  and  affinities  of  the  English 
language  is  at  present,  the  introduction  by  Noah  Webster,  to  his 
great  dictionary;  yet  although  he  has  taken  enlarged  views  of  the 
subject,  and  by  far  surpassed  every  predecessor,  he  has  left  much 
to  do  to  those  future  philologists  and  philosophers  who  may  be 
inclined  to  pursue  the  subject  still  farther  :  not  having  traced  the 
English  language  to  its  primitive  sources,  nor  through  all  its  va- 
riations and  anomalies. 

But  no  very  speedy  addition  to  this  knowledge  is  likely  to  be 
produced,  since  Mr.  Webster  has  stated,  in  a  letter  inserted  in  the 
Genesee  Farmer,  of  March,  1832,  (written  to  vindicate  some  of 
his  improvements  in  orthography,)  that  no  one  has  been  found  in 
America  or  England  able  to  review  his  introduction  !  although 
many  have  been  applied  to!  But  I  was  not  one  of  those  consulted, 
lew  knowing  of  my  researches  in  languages — else  I  could  have 
done  ample  justice  to  the  subject,  and  to  Mr. Webster.  It  is  not  now 
a  review  of  his  labors  that  I  undertake,  but  merely  an  inquiry  into 
the  primitive  origin  of  our  language,  extracted  from  my  manu- 


316  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

script  philosophy  of  the  English,  French  and  Italian  languages, 
compared  with  all  the  other  languages  or  dialects  of  the  whole 
world,  not  less  than  3000  in  number. 

The  modern  English  has  really  only  one  immediate  parent:  the 
old  English,  such  as  it  was  spoken  and  written  in  England,  be- 
tween the  years  1000  and  1500,  lasting  about  five  hundred  years, 
which  is  the  usual  duration  of  fluctuating  languages.  Our  actual 
English  is  a  natural  derivation  or  dialect  of  it,  begun  between  1475 
and  1525,  and  gradually  improved  and  polished  under  two  differ- 
ent forms,  the  written  English  and  the  spoken  English,  which 
are  as  different  from  each  other  as  the  English  from  the  French. 
These  two  forms  have  received  great  accession  by  the  increase  of 
knowledge,  and  borrowing  from  many  akin  languages  words  un- 
known to  the  old  English.  They  are  both  subject  yet  to  the  fluc- 
tuations of  orthography  and  pronunciation,  which  gradually  modify 
them  again. 

The  old  English  existed  probably  also  under  these  two  forms, 
and  had  several  contemporaneous  dialects,  as  the  modern  En- 
glish, of  which  the  Yorkshire  and  Scotch  dialects  are  the  most 
striking  in  Europe  ;  while  Guyana,  Creole,  and  West  India 
Creole  are  the  most  remarkable  in  America.  Another  dialect, 
filled  with  Bengali  and  Hindostani  words,  is  also  forming  in  the 
East  Indies. 

A  complete  comparison  of  the  old  and  modern  English  has  not 
yet  been  given.  A  few  striking  examples  will  here  be  inserted 
as  a  specimen  of  disparity. 


Jl'ritten. 

Written. 

Written. 

Written. 

Old  Eng 

lish. 

Mod.  English. 

Old  English. 

Mod.  English. 

Londe 

Laivle 

See 

Sea 

Sterre 

Shir 

Benetlicn 

Beneath 

Erthe 

Earth 

Hewyn 

Heaven 

Yle 

Island 

Hedtle 

Head 

As  late  as  the  year  1555,  we  find  the  English  language 
very  different  from  the  actual,  at  least  in  orthography.  For  in- 
stance: 


Eng.  of  1555. 

Writ.  Mod.  Eng. 

Eng.  of  1555. 

Writ.  Mod.  Eng 

Preste 

Priest 

Fyer 

Fire 

Euyll 

Evil 

Howse 

House 

Youe 

You 

This  old  English  is  supposed  to  have  sprung  from  the  amalga- 
mation  of  three    languages — British-Celtic,    Anglo-Saxon,  and 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  317 

Norman  French,  between  the  years   1000  and  1200.     This  has 
been  well  proved  by  many,  and  I  take  it  for  granted. 

But  the  successive  parents  and  the  genealogies  of  the  Celtic, 
Saxon  and  Norman,  are  not  so  well  understood,  yet  through  their 
successive  and  gradual  dialects  springing  from  each  other,  are  to 
be  traced  the  anomalies  and  affinities  of  all  the  modern  languages 
of  western  Europe. 

By  this  investigation  it  is  found  that  these  three  parents  of  the 
English,  instead  of  being  remote  and  distinct  languages,  were 
themselves  brothers,  sprung  from  a  common  primitive  source, 
having  undergone  fluctuations  and  changes  every  five  hundred  or 
one  thousand  years.  For  instance,  the  Latin  of  the  time  of  Rom- 
ulus, was  quite  a  different  language  from  that  spoken  in  the  time 
of  Augustus,  although  this  was  a  child  of  the  former — this  of  the 
Ausoniari,  &c. 

The  following  table  will  illustrate  this  fact,  and  the  subsequent 
remarks  prove  it. 

7.      Old  English,  sprung  partly  from  the  British-Celtic. 

2d  step,  British  Celtic  of  Great  Britain,  sprung  from  the  Celtic 
of  West  Europe. 

3d  step,  this  Celtic  from  the  Cumricor  Kimran  of  Europe. 

4th  step,  the  Cumric  from  the  Gomerian  of  Western  Asia. 

5th  step,  the  Gomerian  from  the  Yavana  of  Central  Asia. 

6th  step,  the  Yavana  was  a  dialect  of  the  Sanscrit. 

II.     The  Old  English  partly  sprung  from  the  A7iglo-Suxon  of 
Britain. 

2d  step,  the  Anglo-Saxon  sprung  from  Saxon  or   Sacuceuas  of 

Germany. 

3d  step,  the  Saxon  from  the  Teutonic  or  Gothic  of  Europe. 

4th  step,  the  Teutonic  from  the  Getic  of  East  Europe. 

5th  step,  the  Getic  from  the  Tiras  or  Tharaca  of  West  Asia — 
(Thracians  of  the  Greeks.) 

6th  step,  the  Tiras  from  the  Clitic  or  Saca  of  Central  Asia,  call- 
ed Scythian  by  the  Greeks. 

7th  step,  the  Saca  was  a  branch  of  the  Sanscrit. 

///.      Old  English  partly  sprung  from  the  Nor  man- French. 
2d  step,   the  Norman    French   sprung  from  the   Romanic  of 
France. 


318  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

3d  step,  the  Romanic  from  the  Celtic,  Teutonic,  and  Roman 
Latin. 

4th  step,  Roman  Latin  from  the  Latin  of  Romulus. 

5th  step,  the  Latin  from  the  Ausonian  of  Italy. 

6th  step,  the  Ausonian  from  the  Pelagic  of  Greece  and  West 
Asia. 

7th  step,  the  Pelagic  from  the  Palangsha,  or  Pali  of  Central 
Asia. 

8ih  step,  the  Pali  was  a  branch  of  the  Sanscrit. 

Thus  we  see  all  the  sources  of  the  English  language  concentra- 
ting by  gradual  steps  into  the  Sanscrit,  one  of  the  oldest  languages 
of  Central  Asia,  which  has  spread  its  branches  all  over  the  globe; 
being  the  original  language  of  that  race  of  men,  fathers  of  the 
Hindoos,  Persians,  Europeans  and  Polynesians. 

All  the  affinities  between  English  and  Sanscrit  are  direct  and 
striking,  notwithstanding  many  deviations,  and  the  lapse  of  ages. 
While  those  between  the  English  and  other  primitive  languages, 
such  as  Chinese,  Mongol,  Arabic,  Hebrew,  Coptic,  Berber,  &c, 
are  much  less  in  number  and  importance,  being  probably  derived 
from  the  natural  primitive  analogy  of  those  languages  with  the 
Sanscrit  itself,  when  all  the  languages  in  Asia  were  intimately 
connected. 

Many  authors  have  studied  and  unfolded  the  English  analogies 
with  many  languages  ;  but  few  if  any^have  ever  stated  their  nu- 
merical amount.  Unless  this  is  done  we  can  never  ascertain  the 
relative  amount  of  mutual  affinities.  My  numerical  rule  af- 
fords a  very  easy  mode  to  calculate  this  amount  without  much 
trouble. 

Thus,  to  find  the  amount  of  affinities  between  English  and 
Latin,  let  us  take  ten  important  words  at  random  in  each. 


Writ.  Ertff. 

Latin. 

Writ.  Eng. 

Latin. 

Worn;  n 

Femina 

One 

Unum 

tt  Water 

Aqua 

ttHouse 

Domus 

tEarth 

Terra 

tMoon 

Luna 

tCod 

Deus 

Star 

Aster 

ttSoul 

Anima 

UGood 

Bonus 

We  thereby  find  three  affinities  in  ten,  or  30  per  cent.;  as  many 
analogies  or  semi-affinities,  marked  t,  equal  to  15  per  cent,  more; 
and  four  words,  or  40  per  cent.,  have  no  affinities.  This  will 
probably  be  found  a  fair  average  of  the  mutual  rate  in  the  old  En- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  310 

glish,  but  the  modern  has  received  so  many  Latin  synonyms  as  to 
exceed  perhaps  this  rate. 

Of  these  analogies  it  is  remarkable  that  most  are  not  direct  from 
the  Latin,  or  even  through  the  French,  but  are  of  Saxon  origin, 
which  had  them  with  the  Latin  previously. 

Thus  the  affinities  between  the  English  and  Greek  or  Russian 
are  derived  through  the  Pelagic  and  Thracian,  unless  lately 
adopted. 

Boxhorn  and  Lipsius  first  noticed  the  great  affinities  of  words 
and  grammar  between  the  Persian  and  German  dialects;  twenty- 
five  German  writers  have  written  on  this.  But  Weston,  in  a  very 
rare  work,  printed  in  Calcutta,  at  1816,  on  the  conformity  of  the 
English  and  European  languages  with  the  Persian,  has  much  en- 
larged the  subject,  and  has  given  as  many  as  four  hundred  and 
eighty  consimilar  words  between  Persian  and  Latin,  Greek,  En- 
glish, Gothic  and  Celtic,  but  he  has  not  stated  the  numerical 
amount  of  these  affinities.  All  this  is  not  surprising,  since  the 
Iranians  or  Persians  were  also  a  branch  of  Hindus,  and  this  lan- 
guage a  child  of  the  Zend,  a  dialect  of  the  Sanscrit.  Hammer 
has  found  as  many  as  five  hundred  and  sixty  affinities  between 
German  and  Persian. 

But  the  late  work  of  Colonel  Kennedy,  "  Researches  on  the 
Origin  and  Affinity  of  the  principal  Languages  of  Asia  and  Eu- 
rope," London,  1828,  4to,  is  the  most  important,  as  directly 
concerning  this  investigation,  notwithstanding  that  he  has  ventured 
on  several  gratuitous  assertions,  and  has  many  omissions  of  con- 
sequence. 

Kennedy  states  that  the  Sanscrit  has  2500  verbal  roots,  but 
only  566  have  distinct  meanings,  while  each  admitting  of  25  suf- 
fixes, they  form  60,000  words,  and  as  they  are  susceptible  of  958 
increments,  as  many  as  1,395,000  words  may  be  said  to  exist  in 
this  wonderful  language. 

Yet  out  of  these  2500  roots,  as  many  as  900  are  found  by 
Kennedy  in  the  Persian  and  European  languages,  although  the 
Greek  has  only  2200  roots,  and  the  Latin  2400.  Of  these  900 
affinities, 

330  are  found  in  the  Greek, 
319  in  Latin, 
265  in  Persian, 


320 


AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 


262  in  German, 

251  in  English, 

527  in  Greek  or  Latin, 

181  in  both  German  and  English, 
31  in  all  the  five  languages. 
This  is  something  positive  and  numerical,  but  unfortunately 
not  definite  and  partly  erroneous,  as  will  be  proved  presently  from 
the  English.  Kennedy  denies  affinities  between  the  Celtic  and 
Sanscrit,  but  the  very  words  he  has  offered  as  examples,  (only 
100)  offer  many  evident  affinities.  His  opinion  that  the  Hindoos 
and  Egyptians  came  from  the  Babylonians,  is  very  improbable. — 
It  was  from  the  high  table  land  of  Central  Asia,  that  all  the  old 
nations  came. 

The  251  English  affinities  may  be  seen  in  Kennedy,  as  well  as 
the  339  Latin,  which  are  mostly  found  now  also  in  English  through 
the  words  derived  from  the  Latin.  These  two  united  would  be 
590,  or  more  already  than  the  566  separate  meanings  of  the  San- 
scrit roots;  but  Kennedy  has  by  no  means  exhausted  the  Sanscrit 
etymologies  of  the  English.  Although  I  have  no  English  Sanscrit 
dictionary  at  hand,  yet  I  have  many  Sanscrit  vocabularies  where 
I  find  many  words  omitted  by  Kennedy;  and  what  is  not  found  in 
the  Sanscrit  itself,  is  found  in  its  eastern  children,  the  modern 
languages  of  Hindoston. 

Among  my  vocabularies,  the  most  important  is  one  made  by 
myself,  of  the  principal  words  of  the  old  Sanscrit,  met  with  and 
explained  in  the  laws  of  Menu,  translated  by  Jones.  In  these  old 
and  often  obsolete  words  are  found  the  most  striking  affinities,  of 
which  I  here  give  the  greater  part. 


English,  urilten. 

Old  Sanscrit  of  Menu.      English,  written. 

Old  Sanscrit  of  Menv. 

Mother 

Mara 

Beetle 

Blatta 

Mind 

Men 

Penny 

Pana 

Mankind 

Manavah 

Gas 

Akasa 

Era 

Antara 

Father 

Vasus 

Hour 

Hora 

Play 

Way  a 

Virtuous 

Verta 

Malice  (sin) 

Mala 

Antique 

Arti 

Patriarch 

Patri 

Middle 

Medhya 

Eyes 

Esbas 

Teacher 

Acharya 

Right 

Rita 

Bos  (master) 

Bhos 

Phantom 

Vantasa 

Before 

Purra 

Wood 

Venu 

Wind 

Parana 

Me,  mine 

Man 

Deity 

Daitya 

Animate 

Mahat 

Mouth 

Muc'ha 

Spirit 

Estietra 

AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST. 


321 


Being  twenty-eight  derivated  words  out  of  eighty-four  of  this 
old  vocabulary,  33  per  cent. 

Another  very  singular  vocabulary  I  have  extracted  from  the 
transactions  of  the  Literary  Society  of  Bombay,  and  Erskine's 
account  of  the  ancient  Mahabad  religion  of  Balk,  from  the 
book  Desatir.  Some  words  are  given  there  of  the  language  of 
the  Mahabad  empire,  the  primitive  Iran,  which  appears  to  be  a 
very  early  dialect  of  the  Sanscrit  and  Zend.  Out  of  thirty 
words,  twelve  have  analogies  to  the  English — equal  to  forty  per 
cent. 


English,  written. 

Malmbad  of  Iran. 

English,  urittcn. 

Mankabad  of  Iran, 

Father 

Fiter 

Middle 

Mad 

End 

Anton 

Sky 

Kai 

Course 

Kur  (time) 

Royal 

Raka  (king) 

Nigh 

Uniin 

Ignite 

Agai  (fire) 

Amicably 

Mitr  (friend) 

M;m 

Minhush 

Globe 

Gul 

Donation 

Datisur 

I  could  here  add  at  least  250  to  the  251  of  Kennedy,  if  it  were 
not  too  tedious  and  long.  But  I  can  safely  vouch  that  all  the  566 
radical  roots  of  peculiar  meaning  forming  the  base  of  the  San- 
scrit, arc  to  be  found  in  the  English  roots,  or  if  a  few  are  lack- 
ing, it  is  merely  owing  to  some  having  become  obsolete,  through 
the  lapse  of  nearly  5000  years,  when  the  Yavanas,  Sacas,  and 
Pallis  separated  from  their  Hindoo  brethren,  and  the  revolution 
of  six  or  seven  successive  dialects  formed  by  each,  till  they  met 
again  in  the  English.  Kennedy  has  even  some  obsolete  English 
and  Scotch  words,  now  out  of  use,  which  are  derived  from  the 
Sanscrit. 

This  inquiry  is  not  merely  useful  to  unfold  the  origin  and  rev- 
olutions of  our  language  ;  but  it  applies  more  or  less  to  all  the 
languages  of  Europe,  which  were  formed  in  a  similar  way,  by 
dialects  of  former  languages,  since  every  dialect  becomes  a  lan- 
guage whenever  it  is  widely  spread  and  cultivated  by  a  polished 
nation:  thus  the  French,  Italian,  Spanish,  Portuguese,  Romanic, 
and  Valaquian  arc  now  become  languages,  with  new  dialects  of 
their  own,  although  they  are  in  fact  mere  dialects  of  the  Latin  and 
Celtic. 

The  physical  conformation  and  features  of  all  the  European 
and  Hindoo  nitions  are  well  known  to  agree,  and  naturalists  con- 
sider them  as  a  common  race.     The  historical  traditions  of  these 

SI 


322  AMERICA*    ANTIQUITIES 

nations  confirm  the  philological  and  physical  evidence.  All  the 
European  nations  came  from  the  east  or  the  west  of  the  Imaus 
table  land  of  Asia, the  seat  of  the  ancient  Hindoo  empires  of  Balk, 
Cashmir  and  Iran.  The  order  of  time  in  which  the  Asiatic  na- 
tions entered  Europe  to  colonize  it  was  as  follows  : 

1.  or  most  ancient.  Esquas,  or  Oscans,  or  Iberians,  or  Can- 
talrians. 

2.  Gomarians,  or  Cumras,  or  Celts,  or  Gaels. 

3.  Getes,  or  Gollis,  or  Scutans,  or  Scythians. 

4.  Fins,  or  Laps,  or  Samcs. 

5.  Tiras,  or  Titrations,  or  Illyrians,  or  Slaves. 

6.  Pallis,  or  Pelasgians,  or  Hellenes,  or  Greeks. 

The  settlement  in  Europe  of  these  last  is  so  remote  as  to  be  in- 
volved in  obscurity.  But  their  geographical  positions,  traditions 
and  languages  prove  their  relative  antiquity.  The  Greek  lan- 
guage is  one  of  those  that  has  been  most  permanent,  having  last- 
ed 2500  years,  from  Homer's  time  to  the  Turkish  conquest;  yet 
it  sprung  from  the  Pelagic,  and  has  given  birth  to  the  Romanic  or 
modern  Greek  dialects. 


Colonies  of  the  Danes  in  America. 

But  besides  the  evidences  that  the  Malay,  Australasian,  and 
Polynesian  tribes  of  the  Pacific  islands,  have  in  remote  ages  peo- 
pled America  from  the  west — coming  first  of  all,  from  the  Asiatic 
shores  of  that  ocean,  and  also  from  the  east,  peopling  the  island 
Atalantis,  (equally  early,  as  we  believe,)  once  situated  between 
America  and  Europe,  and  from  this  to  the  continent  ;  yet  there 
is  another  class  of  autiquities,  or  race  of  population,  which,  says 
Dr.  Mitchell,  deserves  particularly  to  be  noticed.  "  These  are 
the  emigrants  from  Lapland,  Norway,  and  Finland  in  Europe, 
who,  before  the  tenth  century,  settled  themselves  in  Green- 
land, and  passed  over  to  Labrador.  It  is  recorded  that  these  ad- 
venturers settled  themselves  in  a  country  which  they  called  Vin- 
land." 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  323 

Our  learned  regent,  Gov.  De  Witt  Clinton,  says  Dr.  Mitchell, 
who  has  outdone  Governeur  Colden,  by  writing  the  most  full  and 
able  history  of  the  Iroquois  or  Five  Nations  of  New-York,  men- 
tioned to  me  his  belief  that  a  part  of  the  old  forts  and  other  anti- 
quities at  Onondaga,  about  Auburn  and  the  adjacent  country, were 
of  Danish  character.  "I  was  at  once  penetrated  with  the  justice 
of  his  remark;  an  additional  window  of  light  was  suddenly  opened 
to  my  view  on  this  subject.  I  perceived  at  once,  with  the  Rev. 
Van  Troil,  that  the  European  emigrants  had  passed,  during  the 
horrible  commotions  of  the  ninth  and  tenth  century,  to  Iceland."' 
— (Sec  History  of  England.) 

The  Rev.  Mr.  Crantz  had  informed  me,  in  his  important  book, 
how  they  went  to  Greenland.  I  thought  I  could  trace  the  people 
of  Scandinavia  to  the  banks  of  the  St.  Lawrence  ;  I  supposed  my 
friends  had  seen  the  Punic  inscriptions  made  by  them  here  and 
there,  in  the  places  where  they  visited.  Madoc,  prince  of  Wales, 
and  his  Cambrian  followers,  appeared  to  my  recollection  among 
these  bands  of  adventurers.  And  thus  the  northern  lands  of  North 
America  were  visited  by  the  hyperborean  tribes  from  the  north- 
westermost  climes  of  Europe,  and  the  northwestern  climes  of 
North  America  had  received  inhabitants  of  the  same  race  from 
the  northeastern  regions  of  Asia. 

The  Danes,  Fins  or  Germans  and  Welchmen,  performing  their 
migrations  gradually  to  the  southwest,  seem  to  have  penetrated  to 
the  country  situated  in  the  south  of  Lake  Ontario,which  would  be 
in  the  Statos  of  New-York  and  Pennsylvania,  and  to  have  forti- 
fied themselves  there;  where  the  Tartars,  or  Samoieds,  travelling 
by  slow  degrees  from  Alaska,  on  the  Pacific,  to  the  south 
finally  found  them. 

In  their  course  these  Asian  colonists  probably  exterminated  the 
Malays  who  had  penetrated  along  the  Ohio  and  its  streams,  or 
drove  them  to  caverns  abounding  in  salt  peter  and  copperas,  in 
Kentucky  and  Tennessee  ;  where  their  bodies  accompanied  with 
cloths  and  ornaments  of  their  peculiar  manufacture,  have  been  re- 
peatedly disinterred  and  examined  by  the  members  of  the  Ameri- 
can Antiquarian  Society.  Having  achieved  this  conquest,  the 
Tartars  and  their  descendants  had  probably  a  much  harder 
task  to  perform.  This  was  to  subdue  the  more  ferocious  and 
warlike    Eupropean  colonists,    who  had  intrenched    and  fortified 


324  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

themselves  in  the  country,  after  the  arrival  of  the  Tartars,  or  In- 
dians as  they  are  now  called,  in  the  particular  parts  they  had  set- 
tled themselves  in,  along  the  region  of  the  Atlantic.  In  Pompey, 
Onondaga  county,  are  the  remains,  or  outlines,  of  a  town,  includ- 
ing more  than  500  acres.  It  appeared  protected  by  three  circular 
or  eliptical  forts,  eight  miles  distant  from  each  other  ;  placed  in 
such  relative  positions  as  to  form  a  triangle  round  about  the  town, 
at  those  distances.  It  is  thought,  from  appearances,  that  this  strong 
hold  was  stormed  and  taken  on  the  line  of  the  north  side.  In  Ca- 
millus,  in  the  same  county,  are  the  remains  of  two  forts,  one  cov- 
ering about  three  acres,  on  a  very  high  hill  ;  it  had  gateways,  one 
opening  to  the  east,  and  the  other  to  the  west,  toward  a  spring, 
some  rods  from  the  works.  Its  shape  is  eliptical  ;  it  has  a  wall,  in 
some  places  ten  feet  high,  with  a  deep  ditch.  Not  far  from  this  is 
another,  exactly  like  it,  only  half  as  large.  There  are  many  of 
these  ancient  works  hereabouts  ;  one  in  Scipio,  two  near  Auburn, 
three  near  Canandaigua,  and  several  between  the  Seneca  and  Cay- 
aga  lakes.  A  number  of  such  fortifications  and  burial  places  have 
also  been  discovered  in  Ridgeway,  or  the  southern  shore  of  lake 
Ontario.  There  is  evidence  enough  that  long  and  bloody  wars 
were  waged  among  the  inhabitants,  in  which  the  Scandinavians, 
or  Esquimaux  as  they  are  now  called,  seem  to  have  been  over- 
powered and  destroyed  in  New  York.  The  survivors  of  the  de- 
feat and  ruin  retreated  in  Labrador,  a  country  lying  between  Hud- 
son's bay  an  I  the  Atlantic  ;  in  latitude  5>>  and  60  degrees  north, 
where  they  have  remained,  secure  from  further  pursuit.  From 
the  known  ferocity  of  the  ancient  Scandinavians,  who  with  other 
Europeans  of  ancient  times  we  suppose  to  be  the  authors  of  the 
vast  works  about  the  region  of  Onondaga,  dreadful  wars  with  infi- 
nite butcheries,  must  have  crimsoned  every  hill  and  dale  of  this 
now  h-ippy  country.  In  corroboration  of  this  opinion,  we  give  the 
following,  which  is  an  extract  from  remarks  made  on  the  ancient 
customs  of  the  Scandinavians,  by  Adam  Clarke,  in  a  volume  en- 
titled Clarke's  Discovery,  p.  145. 

1st.  Odin  or  Woden,  their  supreme  god,  is  there  termed  the  ter- 
rible or  severe  deity,  the  father  of  slaughter,  who  carries  desola- 
tion and  fire  ;  the  tumultuous  and  roaring  Deity  ;  the  giver  of 
courage  and  victory  ;  he  who  marks  out  who  shall  perish  in  bat- 
tle ;  the  shedder  of  the  blood  of  man.  From  him  is  the  fourth 
day  of  our  week  denominaLed  Wodnesday,  or  Wednesday. 


AND    DISCOVERIES     IN    THE    WEST.  325 

2d.  Frigsaor  Frega:  she  was  his  consort,  called  also  Fcrorthe, 
mother  earth.  She  was  the  goddess  of  love  and  debauchery — the 
northern  Venus.  She  was  also  a  warrior,  and  divided  the  souls 
of  the  slain  with  her  husband  Odin.  From  her  we  have  our  Fri- 
day, or  Freya's  day  ;  as  on  that  day  she  was  peculiarly  worship- 
ped, as  was  Odin  on  Wednesday. 

3d.  Thor,  the  god  of  winds  and  tempests,  thunder  and  lightning. 
He  was  the  especial  object  of  worship  in  Norway,  Iceland,  and 
consequently  in  the  Zetland  isles.  From  him  we  have  the  name 
of  our  fifth  day,  Thor's  day,  or  Thursday. 

4th.  Tri,  the  god  who  protects  houses.  His  day  of  worship 
was  called  Tyrsday,  or  Tiiesday,  whence  our  Tuesday.  As  to  our 
first  and  second  day,  Sunday  and  Monday,  they  derived  their 
names  from  the  sun  and  the  moon,  to  whose  worship  ancient  idola- 
ters had  consecrated  them.  From  this  we  learn  that  they  had  a 
knowledge  of  a  small  cycle  of  time,  called  a  week,  of  seven  days 
and  must  have  been  derived  in  some  way  from  the  ancient  Hebrew 
Scriptures,  as  here  we  have  the  first  intimation  of  this  division  of 
time.  But  among  the  Mexicans  no  trait  of  a  cycle  of  seven  days 
is  found,  says  Humboldt ;  which  we  consider  an  additional  evi- 
dence that  the  first  people  who  found  their  way  to  these  regions, 
called  North  and  South  America,  left  Asia  at  a  period  anterior  at 
least  to  the  time  of  Moses  ;  which  was  about  1G00  years  before 
Christ.  But  we  continue  the  quotation,  "all  who  die  in  battle  go 
to  Vallpalla,  Odin's  palace,  where  they  amuse  themselves  by  go- 
ing through  their  martial  exercises ;  then  cutting  each  other  to 
pieces  ;  afterwards  all  the  parts  healing  they  sit  down  to  their 
feasts,  where  they  quaff  beer  out  of  the  sculls  of  those  whom  they 
had  slain  in  battle,  and  whose  blood  they  had  before  drank  out  of 
the  same  skulls,  when  they  had  slain  them.  The  Scandinavians 
offered  different  kinds  of  sacrifices,  but  especially  human  ;  and 
from  these  they  drew  their  auguries,  by  the  velocity  with  which 
the  blood  flowed  when  they  cut  their  throats,  and  from  the  appear- 
ance of  the  intestines,  and  especially  the  heart.  It  was  a  custom 
in  Denmark  to  offer  annually,  in  January,  a  sacrifice  of  ninety- 
nine  cocks,  ninety-nine  dogs,  ninety-nine  horses,  and  ninety-nine 
men  ;  besides  other  human  sacrifices,"  on  various  occasions.  Such 
being  the  fact,  it  is  fairly  presumable  that  as  the  Danes,  Scandi- 
navians, and  Lapponiac  nations,   found  their  way  from  the  north 


326  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

of  Europe  to  Iceland,  Greenland  and  Labrador  ;  and  from  thence 
about  the  regions  of  the  western  lakes,  especially  Ontario  ;  that 
the  terrific  worship  of  the  Celtic  gods,  has  been  practised  in  Amer- 
ica, at  least  in  the  state  of  New  York.  And  it  is  not  impossible 
but  this  custom  may  have  pervaded  the  whole  continent,  for  the 
name  of  one  of  these  very  gods  namely  Odin,  is  found  among  the 
South  Americans,,  and  the  tops  of  the  pyramids  may  have  been  the 
altars  of  sacrifice.  "We  have  already  fixed  the  attention  of  the 
reader,"  says  Baron  Humboldt,  "on  Votan  or  Wodan,  an  Ameri- 
can who  seems  to  be  a  member  of  the  same  family  with  the  Woads 
or  Odins,  of  the  Goths,  and  nations  of  the  Celtic  origin."  The 
same  names,  he  says,  are  celebrated  in  India,  Scandinavia,  and 
Mexico,  all  of  which  is,  by  tradition,  believed  to  point  to  none  oth- 
er than  to  Noah  and  his  sons  For,  according  to  the  traditions 
of  the  Mexicans,  as  collected  by  Bishop  Francis  Nunez  de  la  Ve- 
ga, their  Wodan  was  grandson  to  that  illustrious  old  man,  who  at 
the  time  ot  the  great  deluge,  was  saved  on  a  raft,  with  his  family, 
he  was  also  at  the  building  of  the  great  edifice,  and  co-operated 
with  the  builder,  which  had  been  undertaken  by  men  to  reach  the 
skies.  The  execution  of  this  rash  project  was  interrupted;  each 
family  receiving  from  that  time  a  different  language  ;  when  the 
Great  Spirit,  or  Teatl,  ordered  Wodan  to  go  and  people  the  con- 
try  of  Anahuac,  which  is  in  America.  Think,  (says  Dr.  Mitch- 
ill,)  what  a  memorable  spot  is  our  Onondaga,  where  men  of 
the  Malay  race,  from  the  southwest,  and  of  the  Tartar  blood  from 
.the  northwest,  and  of  the  Gothic  stock  from  the  northeast,  have 
successfully  contended  for  the  supremacy  and  rule,  and  which 
may  be  considered  as  having  been  possessed  by  each  long  enough 
before"  Columbus  was  born,  or  the  navigating  of  the  western  ocean 
thought  of  by  Europeans.  "John  dc  Laet,  a  Flemish  writer,  says 
that  Modoc,  one  of  the  sons  of  Prince  Owen  Gynnith,  being  dis- 
gusted with  the  civil  wars  which  broke  out  between  his  brothers, 
after  the  death  of  their  father,  fitted  out  several  vessels,  and  hav- 
ing provided  them  with  every  thing  necessary  for  a  long  voyage, 
vent  in  quest  of  new  lands  to  the  westward  of  Ireland.  There  he 
discovered  very  fertile  countries,"  where  he  settled  ;  and  it  is  ve- 
ry probable  Onondaga,  and  the  country  along  the  St.  Lawrence, 
and  around  lakes  Ontario  and  Erie  were  the  regions  of  their  im- 
provements.— (Carver,    p.    108.)     We    learn  from  the   historian 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  327 

■Charlevoix,  that  theEries,  an  indigenous  nation  of  the  Malay  race, 
who  formerly  inhabited  the  lands  south  of  Lake  Erie,  where  the 
western  district  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  state  of  Ohio  now  are. — 
And  Lewis  Evans,  a  former  resident  of  the  city  of  New  York<  has 
shown  us  in  his  map  of  the  Middle  Colonies,  that  the  hunting 
grounds  of  the  Iroquois  extended  over  that  very  region.  The  Iro- 
quois were  of  the  Tartar  stock,  and  they  converted  the  country  of 
the  exterminated  Eries  or  Malays  into  a  range  for  the  wild  beasts 
of  the  west,  and  a  region  for  their  own  hunters."  He  says  the 
Scandinavians  emigrated  about  the  tenth  century  of  the  Christian 
era,  if  not  earlier;  and  that  they  may  be  considered  as  not  only 
having  discovered  this  continent,  but  to  have  explored  its  northern 
climes  to  a  great  extent,  and  also  to  have  people  them.  In  the 
fourteenth  township;  fourth  range  of  the  Holland  Company's  lands 
in  the  state  of  New-York,  near  the  Ridge  road  leading  from  Buf 
falo  to  Niagara  falls,  is  an  ancient  fort,  situated  in  a  large  swamp; 
it  covers  about  five  acres  of  ground  ;  large  trees  are  standing  upon 
it.  The  earth  which  forms  this  fort  was  evidently  brought  from 
a  distance,  as  that  the  soil  of  the  marsh  is  quite  of  another  kind, 
wet  and  miry,  while  the  site  of  the  fort  is  dry  gravel  and  lome. 

The  site  of  this  fortification  is  singular,  unless  we  suppose  it  to 
have  been  a  last  resort  or  hiding  place  from  an  enemy.  The  dis- 
tance to  the  margin  of  the  marsh  is  about  half  a  mile,  where  large 
quantities  of  human  bones  have  been  found,  on  opening  the  earth, 
of  an  extraordinary  size  :  the  thigh  bones,  about  two  inches 
longer  than  a  common  sized  man's  :  the  jaw  or  chin  bone  will 
cover  a  large  man's  face  :  the  skull  bones  are  of  an  enormous 
thickness  :  the  breast  and  hip  bones  are  also  very  large.  On  being 
exposed  to  the  air  they  soon  moulder  away,  which  denotes  the 
great  length  of  time  since  their  interment.  The  disorderly  man- 
ner in  which  these  bones  were  found  to  lie,  being  crosswise,  com- 
mixed and  mingled  with  every  trait  of  confusion,  show  them  to 
have  been  deposited  by  a  conquering  enemy,  and  not  by  friends, 
who  would  have  laid  them,  as  the  custom  of  all  nations  always  has 
been  in  a  more  deferential  mode.  There  was  no  appearance  of  a 
bullet  having  been  the  instrument  of  their  destruction,  the  evidence 
of  which  would  have  been  broken  limbs.  Smaller  works  of  the 
same  kind  abound  in  the  country  about  lake  Ontario,  but  the  one 
of  which  we  have  just  spoken  is  the  most  remarkable.    This  work, 


328  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

it  is  likely,  was  a  last  effort  of  the  Scandinavians.  North  of  the 
mountain,  or  great  slope  toward  the  lake,  there  are  no  remains  of 
ancient  works  or  tumuli,  which  strongly  argues,  that  the  mountain 
or  ridgeway  once  was  the  southern  boundary  or  shore  of  lake  Onta- 
rio :  the  waters  having  receded  from  three  to  seven  miles  from  its 
ancient  shore,  nearly  the  whole  length  of  the  lake,  occasioned  by 
some  strange  convulsion  in  nature,  redeeming  much  of  the  lands  of 
the  west  from  the  water  that  had  covered  it  from  the  time  of  the  del- 
uge. The  following  is  the  opinion  of  Morse,  the  geographer,  on 
the  curious  subject  of  the  original  inhabitants  or  population  of 
America.  He  says,  "without  detailing  the  numerous  opinions  of 
philosophers,  respecting  the  original  population  of  this  continent,. 
he  will,  in  kxv  words,  state  the  result  of  his  own  inquiries  on  the 
subject,  and  the  facts  from  which  the  result  is  deduced.  "The 
Greenlanders  and  Esquimaux,"  which  are  one  in  origin, "were 
emigrants  from  the  northwest  of  Europe,"  which  is  Norway  and 
Lapland.  A  colony  of  Norwegians  was  planted  in  Iceland,  in 
874,  which  is  almost  a  thousand  years  ago.  Greenland,  which  is 
separated  from  the  American  continent  only  by  Davis'  strait, which 
in  several  places,  is  of  no  great  width,  was  settled  by  Eric  Rufus, 
a  young  Norwegian,  in  982  ;  and  before  the  11th  century,  chur- 
ches were  founded  and  a  bishopric  erected  at  Grade,  the  capital  of 
the  settlement.  Soon  after  this,  Bairn,  an  Icelandic  navigator, 
by  accident,  discovered  land  to  the  west  of  Greenland.  This  land 
received  the  name  of  Vineland.  It  was  settled  by  a  colony  of 
Norwegians  in  1002,  and  from  the  description  given  of  its  situa- 
tion and  productions,  must  have  been  Labrador,  which  is  on  the 
American  continent  or  Newfoundland,  which  is  but  a  little  way 
from  the  continent,  separated  by  the  narrow  strait  of  Bellisle,  at 
the  north  end  of  the  gulf  of  St.  Lawrence,  a  river  of  Canada. — 
Vineland  was  west  of  Greenland,  and  not  very  far  to  the  south  of 
it.  It  also  produced  grape  vines  spontaneously.  Mr.  Elis,  in  his 
voyage  to  Hudson's  bay,  informs  us  that  the  vine  grows  spontane- 
ously at  Labrador,  and  compares  the  fruit  of  it  to  the  currants  of 
the  Levant.  Several  missionaires  of  the  Moravians,  prompted 
by  a  zeal  for  propagating  Christianity,  settled  in  Greenland  ;  from 
whom  we  learn  that  the  Esquimaux  perfectly  resemble  the  natives 
of  the  two  countries,  and  have  intercourse  with  one  another  ;  that 
a  few  sailors,  who  had  acquired  the  knowledge  of  a  (ew  Greenland 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  329 

words,  reported,  that  these  were  understood  by  the  Esquimaux  ; 
that  at  length  a  Moravian  missionary,  well  acquainted  with  the 
language  of  Greenland,  having  visited  the  country  of  the  Esqui- 
maux, found  to  his  astonishment,  that  they  spoke  the  same  lan- 
guage with  the  Greenlanders  ;"  which  of  course  was  the  same  with 
the  language  of  Iceland,  and  also  of  Norway,  which  is  in  Europe, 
lying  along  on  the  coast  of  the  Atlantic  ;  as  that  the  first  colony  of 
Iceland  was  from  Norway, and  from  Iceland  a  first  colony  settled  in 
Greenland,  from  thence  to  Labrador,which  is  the  continent ;  show- 
ing that  the  language  of  the  Esquimaux  is  that  of  the  ancient  Norse 
of  Europe,  derived  from  the  more  ancient  Celtic  nations,  who  were 
derived  from  the  descendants  of  Japheth,  the  son  of  Noah  ;  from 
which  we  perceive  that  both  from  country  and  lineal  descent,  the 
present  inhabitants  are  brothers  to  the  Esquimaux  (Indians,  as 
they  are  improperly  called)  who  also  are  white  and  not  copper  col- 
ored, like  the  red  men,  or  common  Indians  who  are  of  the  Tartar 
stock.  The  missionary  found,  "that  there  was  abundant  evidence 
of  their  being  of  the  same  race,  and  he  was  accordingly  received 
and  entertained  by  them  as  a  friend  and  brother."  These  facts 
prove  the  settlement  of  Greenland  by  an  Icelandic  colony,  and  the 
consanguinity  of  the  Greenlanders  and  Esquimaux.  Iceland  is 
only  about  one  thousand  miles  west  from  Norway,  in  Europe, 
with  more  than  twenty  islands  between  ;  so  that  there  is  no  diffi- 
culty in  the  way  of  this  history  to  render  it  improbable  that  the 
early  navigators  from  Norway  may  have  easily  found  Iceland, 
and  colonized  it.  "The  enterprise,  skill  in  navigation,  even  with- 
out the  compass,  and  roving  habits,  possessed  by  these  early  nav- 
igators, renders  it  highly  probable  also,  that  at  some  period  more 
remote  than  the  10th  century,  they  had  pursued  the  same  route  to 
Greenland,  and  planted  colonies  there,  which  is  but  six  hundred 
miles  west  of  Iceland.  Their  descendants  the  present  Greenland- 
ers and  Esquimaux,  retaining  somewhat  of  the  enterprise  of  their 
ancestors,  have  always  preserved  a  communication  with  each  oth- 
er, by  crossing  and  recrossing  Davis's  strait.  The  distance  of 
ocean  between  America  and  Europe  on  the  cast,  or  America  and 
China  on  the  west,  is  no  objection  to  the  passage  of  navigators, 
either  from  design  or  stress  of  weather  ;  as  that  Coxe,  in  his  Rus- 
sian Discoveries,  mentions  that  several  Kamschadale  vessels,  in 
1745,  were  driven  out  to  sea,  and  forced,  by  stress  of  weather,  to 
take  shelter  among  the  Aleutian  islands,  in  the  Pacific,  a  distance 


330  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

of  several  hundred  miles  ;  and  also  Captain  Cook,  in  one  of  his 
voyages,  found  some  natives  of  one  of  the  islands  of  the  same 
ocean,  in  their  war  canoes,  six  hundred  miles  from  land." — 
(Morse.) 

In  the  year  1789,  Captain  Bligh  was  sent  out  under  the  direc- 
tion of  the  government  of  England  to  the  Friendly  islands,  in  the 
Pacific,  in  quest  of  the  bread  fruit  plant,  with  the  view  of  plant- 
ing it  in  the  West  Indies.  But  having  got  into  the  Pacific  ocean, 
his  crew  mutinied,  and  put  him,  with  eighteen  of  his  men,  on 
board  of  a  boat  of  but  thirty-two  feet  in  length,  with  one  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  of  bread,  twenty-eight  gallons  of  water,' twenty 
pounds  of  pork,  three  bottles  of  wine,  and  fifteen  quarts  of  rum. 
With  this  scanty  provision  he  was  turned  adrift  in  the  open  sea, 
when  the  vessel  sailed,  and  left  them  to  their  fate.  Capt.  Bligh 
then  sailed  for  the  island  of  Tofoa,  but  being  resisted  by  the  isl- 
anders with  stones,  and  threatened  with' death,  was  compelled  to 
steer  from  mere  recollection,  (for  he  was  acquainted  with  those 
parts  of  that  ocean)  for  a  port  in  the  East  Indies  called  Tima,  be- 
longing to  the  Dutch.  He  had  been  with  the  noted  Captain  Cook, 
in  his  voyages.  The  reason  the  natives  pelted  them  with  stones, 
as  they  attempted  to  land,  was  because  they  perceived  them  to  be 
without  arms.  This  voyage,  however,  they  performed  in  forty- 
six  days,  suffering  in  a  most  incredible  manner,  a  distance  of  four 
thousand  miles,  losing  but  one  man,  who  was  killed  by  the  stones 
of  the  savages,  in  attempting  to  get  clear  from  the  shore  of  an 
island,  where  they  had  landed  to  look  for  water. 

"  In  1797,  the  slaves  of  a  ship  from  the  coast  of  Africa,  hav- 
ing risen  on  the  crew,  twelve  of  the  latter  leaped  into  a  boat,  and 
made  their  escape.  On  the  thirty-eighth  day,  three  still  survived, 
and  drifted  ashore  at  Barbadoes,  in  the  West  Indies..  In  1799, 
six  men  in  a  boat  from  St  Helena  lost  their  course,  and  nearly  a 
month  after,  five  of  them  surviving,  reached  the  coast  of  South 
America,  a  distance  of  two  thousand  seven  hundred  and  sixty 
miles." — Thomas'  Travels,  p.  283.) 

If  we  consider  in  what  an  early  age  navigation  was  practised, 
and  consequently  how  soon  after  that  era  America  would  receive 
inhabitants  within  its  torrid  zone,  it  will  appear  probable  that  the 
Mexicans  were  a  great  nation  before  either  the  Tartars  or  Esqui- 
maux arrived  on  the  northern  part  of  this  continent.  Navigation 
was  indeed  commenced  at  an  early  age,  by  the  Egyptians  and 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST. 


331 


Phoenicians,  probably  more  than  1600  years  before  the  time  of 
Christ,  (See  Morse's  Chronology,)  and  doubtless,  from  time  to 
time,  as  in  later  ages,  arrivals,  either  from  design  or  from  being 
driven  to  sea  by  storm,  took  place,  so  that  Egyptians,  Phoenicians 
and  individuals  of  other  nations  of  that  age  unquestionably  found 
their  way  to  South  America,  and  also  to  the  southern  parts  of 
of  North  America,  from  the  east,  and  also  from  the  west,  across 
the  Pacific,  in  shipping. 

But  we  entertain  the  opinion  that  even  sooner  than  this,  the 
woods  of  the  Americas  had  received  inhabitants,  as  we  have  be- 
fore endeavored  to  show  in  this  work,  at  a  time  when  there  was 
more  land,  either  in  the  form  of  islands  in  groups,  or  in  bodies, 
approaching  to  that  of  continents,  situated  both  in  the  Pacific  and 
Atlantic  oceans  :  but  especially  that  of  Atalantis,  once  in  the 
Atlantic  between  America  and  the  coast  of  Gibraltar. 

In  the  remarks  of  Carver  on  this  subject,  through  the  interior 
parts  of  Northwestern  America,  we  have  the  following  :  "  Many 
of  the  ancients  are  supposed  to  have  known  that  this  quarter  of 
the  globe  not  only  existed,  but  also  that  it  was  inhabited."  Plato, 
who  wrote  about  500  B.  C,  in  his  book  entitled  Timaeus,  has  as- 
serted that  beyond  the  island  which  he  calls  Atalantis,  as  learned 
from  the  Egyptian  priests,  and  which  according  to  his  description 
was  situated  in  the  Western  ocean,  opposite,  as  we  have  before 
said, to  the  strait  of  Gibraltar,  there  were  a  great  number  of  other 
islands,  and  behind  those  a  vast  continent. 

If  some  have  affected  to  treat  the  tradition  of  the  existence  of 
this  island  as  a  chimera,  we  would  ask,  how  should  the  priests  be 
able  to  tell  us  that  behind  that  island,  farther  west,  was  a  vast  con- 
tinent, which  proves  to  be  true,  for  that  continent  is  America;  or 
rather,  as  a  continent  is  spoken  of  by  Plato  at  all,  lying  west  of, 
Europe,  we  are  of  the  opinion  that  this  fact  should  carry  convic- 
tion that  the  island  also  existed,  as  well  as  the  continent — and 
why  not  Atalantis  ?  If  Plato  knew  of  the  one,  did  he  not  of  the 
other  1 

If  the  Egyptian  priests  had  told  Plato  that  anciently  there  ex- 
isted a  certain  island,  with  a  continent  on  the  west  of  it,  and  the 
strait  of  Gibraltar  on  the  east  of  it,  and  it  was  found  in  succeeding 
ages  that  neither  the  strait  nor  the  continent  were  ever  known  to 
exist,  it  would  be,  indeed,  clearly  inferred,  that  neither  was  the 


332  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

island  known  to  them.  But  as  the  strait  does  exist,  and  the  wes- 
tern continent  also,  is  it  very  absurd  to  suppose  that  Atalantis  was 
indeed  situated  between  these  two  facts,  or  parts  of  the  earth  now 
known  to  all  the  world  ? 

Carver  says  that  Oviedo,  a  celebrated  Spanish  author,  the  same 
who  became  the  friend  of  Columbus,  whom  he  accompanied  on 
his  second  voyage  to  the  new  world,  has  made  no  scruple  to  af- 
firm that  the  Antilles  are  the  famous  Hesperides,  so  often  men- 
tioned by  the  poets,  which  are  at  length  restored  to  the  king  of 
Spain,  the  descendants  of  king  Hesperus,  who  lived  upwards  of 
three  thousand  years  ago,  and  from  whom  these  islands  received 
their  name. 

De  Laet,  a  Flemish  writer,  says  it  is  related  by  Pliny  the  elder, 
one  of  the  most  learned  of  the  ancient  Roman  writers,  who  was 
born  twenty-three  years  after  the  time  of  Christ,  and  left  behind 
him  no  less  than  thirty-seven  volumes  on  natural  history,  and 
some  other  writers,  that  on  many  of  the  islands  on  the  western 
coast  of  Africa,  particularly  on  the  Canaries,  some  ancient  edi- 
fices were  seen,  even  called  ancient  by  Pliny,  a  term  which  would 
throw  the  time  of  their  erection  back  to  a  period  perhaps  five  or 
six  hundred  years  before  Christ.  "  From  this  it  is  highly  proba- 
ble," says  Mr.  Carver,  "that  the  inhabitants  having  deserted  those 
edifices,  even  in  the  time  of  Pliny,  may  have  passed  over  to  South 
America,  the  passage  being  neither  long  nor  difficult.  This  mi- 
gration, according  to  the  calculation  of  those  authors,  must  have 
taken  place  more  than  200  years  before  the  Christian  era,  at  a 
time  when  the  people  of  Spain  were  much  troubled  by  the  Car- 
thaginians, and  might  have  retired  to  the  Antilles,  by  the  way  of 
the  western  isles,  which  were  exactly  halfway  in  their  voyage  to 
South  America  " 

Emanuel  de  Morez,  a  Portuguese,  in  his  History  of  Brazil,  a 
province  of  South  America,  asserts  that  America  has  been  wholly 
peopled  by  the  Carthaginians  and  Israelites.  He  brings,  as  a 
proof  of  this  assertion,  the  discoveries  the  former  are  known  to 
have  made  at  a  great  distance  beyond  the  western  coast  of  Africa; 
the  farther  progress  of  which  being  put  a  stop  to  by  the  Senate  of 
Carthage,  some  hundred  years  before  Christ,  those  who  happened 
to  be  then  in  the  newly  discovered  countries,  being  cut  off  from 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  383 

all  communications  with  their  countrymen,  and  destitute  of  many 
necessaries  of  life,  fell  into  a  state  of  barbarism. 

George  de  Horn,  a  learned  Dutchman,  who  has  written  on  the 
subject  of  the  first  peopling  of  America,  maintains  that  the  first 
founders  of  the  colonies  of  this  country  were  Scythians, who  were 
much  more  ancient  than  the  Tartars,  but  were  derived  from  the 
Scythians,  as  the  term  Tartar  is  but  of  receni  date  when  compared 
with  the  far  more  ancient  appellation  of  Scythian, the  descendants 
of  Shem,  the  great  progenitor  of  the  Jews.  He  also  believes  that 
the  Phoenicians  and  Carthaginians  afterwards  got  footing  in  Ame- 
rica, by  crossing  the  Atlantic,  and  likewise  the  Chinese,  by  way 
of  the  Pacific.  These  Phoenician  and  Carthaginian  migrations  he 
supposes  to  have  been  before  the  time  of  Solomon,  king  of  Israel, 
who  flourished  1000  years  before  Christ. 

Mr.  Thomas  of  Auburn,  in  his  volume  entitled  Travels  through 
the  Western  Country,  has  devoted  some  twenty  pages  to  the  sub- 
ject of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  America,  with  ability  evidencing 
an  enlarged  degree  of  acquaintance  with  it.  He  says  explicitly, 
on  pige  288,  that  "  the  Phoenicians  were  early  acquainted  w  ,h 
those  shores  ;"  believes  "  that  vessels  sailing  out  of  the  Mediter- 
ranean may  have  been  wrecked  on  the  American  shores ;  also, 
colonies  from  the  west  of  Europe  and  from  Africa,  in  the  same 
way.  Supposes  that  Egyptians  and  Syrians  settled  in  Mexico — 
the  former  the  authors  of  the  pyramids  of  South  America,  and 
that  the  Syrians  are  the  same  with  the  Jews — wanting  nothing  to 
complete  this  fact  but  the  rite  of  circumcision.  Says  the  Greeks 
were  the  only  or  first  people  who  practised  raising  tumuli  around 
the  urns  which  contained  the  ashes  of  their  heroes." 

And,  as  we  know,  tumuli  are  in  abundance  in  the  west,  raised 
over  the  ashes,  as  we  suppose,  of  their  heroes,  should  we  not  in- 
fer that  the  practise  was  borrowed. from  that  people?  This  would 
prove  some  of  them,  at  least,  originally  from  about  the  Mediter- 
ranf  an. 

But  notwithstanding  our  agreement  with  this  writer,  that  many 
nations,  the  Greeks,  the  Egyptians,  the  Syrians,  the  Phcenici  ns, 
Carthaginians,  Europeans,  Romans,  Asiatics,  Scythians  and  Tar- 
tars have,"  in  different  eras  of  time,  contributed  to  the  peopling 
of  America  ;  yet  we  believe,  with  the  celebrated  naturalist,  Dr. 
Mitchell,  that  the  ancestors  of  the  people  known  by  the  appella- 


334  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

tion  of  the  Malays,  now  peopling  the  islands  of  the  Pacific,  were 
nearly  among  the  first  who  set  foot  on  the  coasts  of  America. — 
And  that  the  people  who  settled  in  the  islands  of  the  Atlantic,  and 
especially  that  of  Atalantis,  now  no  more,  immediately  after  the 
disperson,  were  they  who,  first  of  all,  and  the  Malay  second,  fill- 
ed all  America  with  their  descendants  in  the  first  ages.  But  in 
process  of  time,  as  the  arts  came  on,  navigation,  with  or  without 
the  compass,  was  practised,  if  not  systematically  as  at  the  present 
time,  yet  with  nearly  as  wide  a  range;  and  as  convulsions  in  the 
earth,  such  as  divided  one  part  of  it  from  another,  as  in  the  days 
of  Peleg,  removing  islands,  changing  the  shape  of  continents,  and 
separating  the  inhabitants  of  distant  places  from  each  other,  by 
destroying  the  land  or  islands  between,  so  that  when  shipping, 
whether  large  or  small,  as  in  the  time  of  the  Phoenicians  and  Ty- 
rians  of  king  Solomon,  the  Greeks  and  Romans  came  to  navigate 
the  seas,  America  was  found,  visited  and  colonized  anew.  In  this 
way  we  account  for  the  introduction  of  the  arts  among  the  more 
ancient  inhabitants  whom  they  found  there,  which  arts  are  clearly 
spoken  of  in  the  traditions  of  the  Mexicans,  who  tell  us  of  white 
and  bearded  men,  as  related  by  Humboldt,  who  came  from  the 
sun,  (as  they  supposed  the  Spaniards  did,)  changed  or  reduced 
the  wandering  millions  of  the  woods  to  order  and  government, 
introduced  among  them  the  art  of  agriculture — a  knowledge  of 
metals,  with  that  of  architecture  ;  so  that  when  Columbus  dis- 
covered America,  it  was  filled  with  cities,  towus,  cultivated  fields 
and  countries  ;  palaces,  aqueducts  and  roads,  and  highways  of 
the  nations,  equal  with  if  not  exceeding,  in  some  respects,  even 
the  people  of  the  Roman  countries  before  the  time  of  Christ.  But 
as  learning  and  a  knowledge  of  the  shape  of  the  earth,  in  the  times 
of  the  nations  we  have  spoken  of  above,  was  not  in  general  use 
among  men;  and  from  incessant  wars  and  revolutions  of  nations, 
what  discoveries  may  have  been  made  were  lost  to  mankind — so 
that  some  of  the  very  countries  once  known  have  in  later  ages  been 
discovered  over  again. 

We  will  produce  one  instance  of  a  discovery  which  has  been 
lost — the  land  of  Ophir,  where  the  Tyrian  fleets  went  for  gold,  in 
the  days  of  Solomon.  Where  is  it  ?  The  most  learned  do  not 
know — cannot  agree  :  it  is  lost  as  to  identity.  Some  thii.k  it  in 
Africa  ;  some  in  the  islands  of  the  South  Atlantic,  and  some  in 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  335 

South  America;  and  although  it  is,  wherever  it  may  he,  undoubt- 
edly an  inhabited  country,  yet  as  to  certainty  about  its  location,  it 
is  unknown. 


Ancient  ChronoJogxj  of  the  Onguys  or  Iroquois  Indians. 

BY  DAVID  CUSICK. 

In  the  traditions  of  the  Tuscaroras,  published  by  Cusick,  in 
1827,  few  dates  are  found,  but  these  (ew  are,  nevertheless,  pre- 
cious for  history. 

A  small  volume  has  been  printed  this  year  by  the  Sunday 
School  Union,  on  the  history  of  the  Delaware  and  Iroquois  In- 
dians, in  which  their  joint  traditions  are  totally  neglected,  as  usual 
with  our  actual  book  makers.  Although  Cusick's  dates  may  be 
vague  and  doubtful,  they  deserve  attention,  and  they  shall  be  no- 
ticed here. 

Anterior  to  any  date,  the  Eagwehoewe,  (pronouoced  Yaguyho- 
huy)  meaning  real  people,  dwelt  north  of  the  lakes,  and  formed 
only  one  nation.  After  many  years,  a  body  of  them  settled  on 
the  river  Kanawag,  now  the  St.  Lawrence,  and  after  a  long  time 
a  foreign  people  came  by  sea,  and  settled  south  of  the  lake. 

1st  date.  Towards  2500  winters  before  Columbus'  discovery  of 
America,  or  100S  years  before  our  era,  total  overthrow  of  the 
Towancas,  nations  of  giants  come  from  the  north,  by  the  king  of 
the  Onguys,  Donhtonha,  and  the  hero  Yatatan. 

2d.  Three  hundred  winters  after,  or  708  before  our  era,  the 
northern  nations  form  a  confederacy,  appoint  a  king,  who  goes 
to  visit  the  great  emperor  of  the  Golden  city,  south  of  the  lakes  : 
but  afterwards  quarrels  arise,  and  a  war  of  100  \ears  with  this 
empire  of  the  south,  long  civil  wars  in  the  north,  6cc.  A  body  of 
people  escaped  in  the  mountain  of  Oswego,  &c. 

3.  1500  years  before  Columbus,  or  in  the  year  8  of  our  era, 
Tarenyawagon,  the  first  legislator,  leads  his  people  out  of  the 
mountains  to  the  river  Yenonatateh,  (now  Mohawk,)  where  six 
tribes  form  an  alliance  called  the   Long-house,  Agoneaseah — af- 


336  AMERICAN    ANT1QUIT1E8 

terwards  reduced  to  five,  the  sixth  spreading  west  and  south.  The 
Kautanoh,  since  Tuscarora,  came  from  this.  Some  went  as  far 
as  the  Onauweyoka,  now  Mississippi. 

4th.  In  108,  the  Konearawyeneh,  or  Flying  Heads,  invade  the 
Five  Nations. 

5th.  In  242,  the  Shakanahih,  or  Stone  Giants,  a  branch  of  the 
western  tribe,  become  cannibals,  return  and  desolate  the  country; 
but  they  are  overthrown  and  driven  north,  by  Tarenyawagon  II. 

6th.  Towards  350,  Tarenyawagon  III.  defeats  other  foes,  call- 
ed Snakes. 

7th.  In  492,  Atoarho  I.,  king  of  the  Onondagas,  quells  civil 
wars,  begins  a  dyn  isty  ruling  over  all  the  Five  Nations,  till  Ato- 
tarho  IX.,  who  ruled  yet  in  1142.  Events  are  since  referred  to 
their  reigns. 

8th.  Under  Atotarho  II.,  a  Tarenyawagon  IV.,  appears  to  help 
him  to  destroy  Oyalk-guhoer,  or  the  Big  Bear. 

9th.  Under  Atotarho  III.,  a  tyrant,  Sohnanrowah,  arises  on 
the  Kaunasehj  now  Susquehannah  river,  which  makes  war  on 
the  Sahwanug. 

10th.  In  602,  under  Atotarho  IV.,  the  Towancas,  now  Missis- 
saugers,  cede  to  the  Senecas  the  lands  east  of  the  river  Niagara, 
who  settle  on  it. 

11th.  Under  Atotarho  V.,  war  between  the  Senecas  and  Ota- 
wahs  of  Sandusky. 

12th.  Towards  852,  under  Atotarho  VI.,  the  Senecas  reach  the 
Ohio  liver,  compel  the  Otawahs  to  sue  for  peace. 

13th.  Atotarho  VII.  sent  embassies  to  the  west;  the  Kentakeh 
nation  dwelt  south  of  the  Ohio,  the  Chipiwas  on  the  Mississippi. 

1  ith.  Towards  1042,  under  Atotarho  VIII.,  war  with  the  To- 
wancas, and  a  foreign  stranger  visits  the  Tuscaroras  of  Neuse 
river,  who  are  divided  into  three  tribes,  and  at  war  with  the  Nan- 
ticokes  and  Totalis. 

15th.  In  1143,  under  Atotarho  IX.,  first  civil  war  between  the 
Erians  of  Lake  Erie,  sprung  from  the  Senecas,  and  the  Five  Na- 
tions.    Here  end  these  tiaditions. 

C.  S.  RAFINESQUE. 

The  foregoing  is  a  curious  trait  of  the  ancient  history  of  the 
wars  and  i  evolutions  which  have  transpired  in  America     It  would 


AND  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST-  337 

appear  that  at  the  time  of  the  overthrow  of  the  Tawancas,  1008 
years  before  Christ,  called  in  the  tradition  a  nation  of  giants,  that 
it  was  about  the  time  the  temple  of  Solomon  was  finished,  show- 
ing clearly  that  as  they  had  become  powerful  in  this  country,they 
had  settled  here  at  a  very  early  period,  probably  about  the  time 
of  Abraham,  within  three  hundred  and  forty  years  of  the  flood. 
The  hero  who  conquered  them  was  called  Yatatan,  king  of  the 
Onguys — names  which  refer  them,  as  to  origin,  to  the  ancient 
Scythians  of  Asia. 

Three  hundred  winters  after  this,  or  703  years  before  Christ, 
about  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  the  Roman  empire,  by 
Romulus,  the  northern  nations  form  a  grand  confederacy,  and 
appoint  a  king,  who  went  on  a  visit  to  the  great  emperor  of  the 
Golden  city,  south  of  the  western  lakes. 

Were  we  to  conjecture  where  this  golden  city  was  situated,  we 
should  say  on  the  Mississippi,  where  the  Missouri  forms  a  junction 
with  that  river,  at  or  near  St.  Louis,  as  at  this  place  and  around 
its  precincts  are  the  remains  of  an  immense  population.  This  is 
likely  the  city  to  which  the  seven  persons  who  were  cast  away  on 
the  island  Estotiland,  as  before  related, were  carried  to  ;  being  far 
to  the  southward  from  that  island,  supposed  to  be  Newfoundland, 
— St.  Louis  being  in  that  direction.  This  visit  of  Yatatan  to  the 
Golden  city,  it  appears,  was  the  occasion  of  a  civil  war  of  one 
hundred  years,  which  ended  in  the  ruin  of  the  Golden  city.  A 
body  of  the  citizens  escaping,  fled  far  to  the  east,  and  hid  them- 
selves in  the  mountains  of  Oswego,  along  the  southern  shores  of 
lake  Ontario,  where  they  remained  about  seven  hundred  years, 
till  a  great  leader  arose  among  them,  called  Tarenyawagon,  who 
led  them  to  settle  on  the  Mohawk;  this  was  eight  years  after  the 
birth  of  Christ.  These  refugees  from  the  Golden  city,  had  now 
multiplied  so  that  they  had  become  several  nations,  whence  the 
grand  confederacy  of  the  six  nations  was  formed.  Upon  these,  a 
nation  called  Flying  Heads  made  war,  but  were  unsuccessful  ; 
also,  in  242  years  after  Christ,  a  nation  called  Stone  Giants, 
made  an  attempt  to  distroy  them  but  failed.  They  were  successful 
in  other  wars  against  the  Snake  Indians,  a  more  western  tribe. 

About  the  time  of  the  commencement  of  Mahomet's  career,  in 
602,  a  great  tyrant  arose  on  the  Susquehannah  river,  who  waged 
war  with  surrounding  nations,  from  which  it  appears,  that  while 

22 


83i  AMERICAN    ANT10.UITIE8 

in  Africa,  Europe  and  Asia,  revolution  succeeded  revolution,  em- 
pires rising  on  the  ruins  of  empires,  that  in  America  the  same 
scenes  were  acting  on  as  great  a  scale  ;  cultivated  regions,  pop- 
ulous cities  and  towns,  were  reduced  to  a  wilderness,  as  in  the 
other  continents. 


A  Tradition. 


"  In  support  of  the  doctrine  that  the  three  sons  of  Noah  were 
red,  black  and  white,  we  bring  the  tradition  of  the  Marabous,  the 
priests  of  the  most  ancient  race  of  Africans, which  says  that  after 
the  death  of  Noah,  his  three  sons,  one  of  whom  was  white,  the 
second  tawny  or  red,  the  third  black,  agreed  to  divide  his  pro- 
perty fairly  ;  which  consisted  of  gold  and  silver,  vestments  of 
silk,  linen  and  wool,  horses,  cattle,  camels,  dromedaries,  sheep 
and  goats,  arms,  furniture,  corn  and  other  provisions,  besides  to- 
bacco and  pipes. 

"  Having  spent  the  greater  part  of  the  day  in  assorting  these 
different  things,  the  three  sons  were  obliged  to  defer  the  parti- 
tion of  the  goods  till  the  next  morning.  They  therefore  smoked 
a  friendly  pipe  together,  and  then  retired  to  rest,  each  in  his  own 
tent. 

"  After  some  hours  sleep,  the  white  brother  awoke  before  the 
other  two,  being  moved  by  avarice,  arose  and  seized  the  gold  and 
silver,  together  with  the  precious  stones  and  most  beautiful  vest- 
ments, and  having  loaded  the  best  camels  with  them,  pursued  his 
way  to  that  country  which  his  white  posterity  have  ever  since 
inhabited. 

"The  Moor,  or  tawny  brother,  awaking  soon  afterwards, with 
the  same  intentions,  and  being  surprised  that  he  had  been  antici- 
pated by  his  white  brother,  secured  in  great  haste  the' remainder 
of  the  horses,  oxen  and  camels,  and  retired  to  another  part  of 
the  world,  leaving  only  some  coarse  vestments  of  cotton,  pipes 
and  tobacco,  millet,  rice,  and  a  few  other  things  of  but  small 
value. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  339 

"  The  last  lot  of  stuff  fell  to  the  share  of  the  black  son,  the 
laziest  of  the  three  brothers,  who  took  up  his  pipe  with  a  melan- 
choly air,  and  while  he  sat  smoking  in  a  pensive  mood,  swore 
to  be  revenged." — (AnquetiVs  -Universal  History,  vol.  6,  p.  117, 
118.) 

We  have  inserted  this  tradition,  not  because  we  think  it  cir- 
cumstantially true,  with  respect  to  the  goods,  &c,  but  because  we 
find  in  it  this  one  important  trait,  viz  :  the  origin  of  human  com- 
plexions, in  the  family  of  Noah  ;  and  if  the  tradition  is  supposed 
altogether  a  fiction,  we  would  ask,  how  came  these  Africans,  the 
most  degraded  and  ignorant  of  the  human  race,  by  so  important 
a  trait  of  ancient  history — as  that  such  a  man,  with  three  sons, 
ever  existed,  from  whom  the  three  races  were  descended,  if  it 
were  not  so  ?  and  that  they  were  of  three  different  complexions  ? 


Disappearance  of  many  Ancient  Lakes  of  the  West,  and  of 
the  Formation  of  Seacoal 

This  description  of  American  antiquities  is  more  captivating 
than  the  accounts  already  given,  because,  to  know  that  the  mil- 
lions of  mankind,  with  their  multifarious  works,  covering  the 
Tales  of  all  our  rivers,  many  of  which  were  once  the  bottoms  of 
immense  lakes,  and  where  the  tops  of  the  tallest  forests  peer  to 
the  skies,  or  where  the  towering  spires  of  many  a  Christian  tem- 
ple makes  glad  the  heart  of  civilized  man,  and  where  the  smoking 
chimnies  of  his  wide  spread  habitations  now  are, — once  sported 
the  lake  serpent,  and  the  finny  tribes,  as  birds  passing  in  scaly 
•waves  along  the  horizon. 

We  look  to  the  soil  where  grazed  the  peaceful  flock, — to  the 
fields  where  wave  a  thousand  harvests — to  the  air  above,  where 
play  the  wings  of  innumerable  fowls,  and  to  the  road,  where  the 
sound  of  passing  wheels  denotes  the  course  of  men,  and  say,  can 
this  be  so?  Was  all  this  space  once  the  home  of  the  waves  ? — 
Where  eels  and  shell  fish  once  congregated  in  the  r  I  ouses  of 
mud,  ie  now  fixed  the  foundation  of  many  a  stately  mansion,  the 


340  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

dwelling  of  man.     Such  the  mutation  of  matter,  and  the  change 
of  habitation. 

We  forbear  to  ramble  farther  in  this  field  of  fancy, which  opens 
before  us  with  such  immensity  of  prospect,  to  give  an  account  of 
the  disappearance  of  lakes  supposed  to  have  existed  in  the  west. 
To  do  this, we  shall  avail  ourselves  of  the  opinions  of  several  dis- 
tinguished authors,  as  Yolney,  in  his  travels  in  America  ;  School- 
craft, in  his  travels  in  the  central  parts  of  the  valley  of  the  Missis- 
aippi,  and  Professor  Beck,  in  his  Gazetteer  of  Illinois  and  Mis- 
souri, &c. 

We  commence  with  the  gifted  and  highly  classical  writer,  C. 
F.  Volney;  who,  although  we  do  not  subscribe  to  his  notions  of 
theology,  yet  as  a  naturalist  we  esteem  him  of  the  highest  class, 
and  his  statements,  with  his  deductions,  to  be  worthy  of  attention. 
He  commences  by  saying,  that  in  the  structure  of  the  mountains 
of  the  United  States,  exists  a  fact  more  strikingly  apparent  than  in 
any  other  part  of  the  world,  which  must  singularly  have  increased 
the  action,  and  varied  the  movements  of  the  waters.  If  we  atten- 
tively examine  the  land,  or  even  the  maps  of  this  country,  we  must 
perceive  that  the  principal  chains  or  ridges  of  the  Alleghanies, 
Blue  Ridge,  &c,  all  run  in  a  transverse  or  cross  direction  to  the 
course  of  all  the  great  rivers,  and  that  these  rivers  have  been 
forced  to  rupture  their  mounds  orbarriers,  and  break  through  these 
ridges,  in  order  to  make  their  way  to  the  sea,  from  the  bosoms  of 
the  valleys. 

This  is  evident  in  the  Potomac,  Susquehannah,  Delaware  and 
James  rivers,  and  others,  where  they  issue  from  the  confines  of 
the  mountains,  to  enter  the  lower  country. 

But  the  example  which  most  attracted  his  attention  on  the  spot, 
was  that  of  the  Potomac,  three  miles  below  the  mouth  of  the  She- 
nandoa.  He  was  coming  from  Fredericktown,  about  twenty  miles 
distant,  and  travelling  from  the  southeast  towards  the  northwest, 
through  a  woody  country,  with  gentle  ascents  and  descents;  after 
he  had  crossed  one  ridge,  pretty  distinctly  marked,  though  by  no 
means  steep,  he  began  to  see  before  him,  eleven  or  twelve  miles 
westward,  the  chain  of  the  Blue  Ridge,  resembling  a  lofty  ram- 
part, covered  with  forests,  and  having  a  breach  through  it  from 
top  to  bottom. 

He  again  descended  into   the  undulating  wood  country,  which 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  34 

separated  him  from  it;  and  at  length  on  approaching  it,  he  found 
himself  at  the  foot  of  this  great  mountainous  rampart,  which  he 
had  to  cross,  and  ascertained  to  be  about  350  yards  high,  or  1*20 
rods,  (nearly  half  a  mile)  deep. 

On  emerging  from  the  wood,  he  had  a  full  view  of  this  tremen- 
dous breach,  which  he  judged  to  be  about  1200  yards  wide,  or 
225  rods,  which  is  about  three-fourths  of  a  mile.  Through  the 
bottom  of  this  breach  ran  the  Potomac,  leaving  on  its  left  a  pas- 
sable bank  or  slope,  and  on  the  right  washing  the  foot  of  the 
breach.  On  both  sides  of  the  chasm,  from  top  to  bottom,  many 
trees  were  then  growing  among  the  rocks,  and  in  part  concealed 
the  place  of  the  rupture.  But  about  two-thirds  of  the  way  up,  on 
the  right  side  of  the  river,  a  large  perpendicular  space  remains 
quite  bare,and  displays  plainly  the  traces  and  scars  of  the  ancient 
land,  or  natural  wall,  which  once  dammed  up  this  river,  formed 
of  grey  quartz,  which  the  victorious  river  has  overthrown,  rolling 
its  fragments  a  considerable  distance  down  its  course.  Some  large 
blocks  that  have  resisted  its  force,  still  remain  as  testimonials  of 
the  convulsion. 

The  bed  of  this  river  at  this  place  is  rugged,  with  fixed  rocks, 
which  are,  however,  gradually  wearing  away.  Its  rapid  waters 
boil  and  foam  through  these  obstacles,  which,  for  a  distance  of 
two  miles  form  very  dangerous  falls  or  rapids.  From  the  height 
of  the  mountain  on  each  side  of  the  river,  and  from  attending  cir- 
cumstances, the  rapids  fodow  the  gap  and  the  narrows,  for  several 
miles  above  the  immediate  place  of  rupture,  are  sufficient  evidence 
that  at  this  place  was  originally  a  mountain  dam  to  the  river, — 
consequently  a  lake  above  must  have  been  the  effect,  with  falls  of 
the  most  magnificent  description,  which  had  thundered  in  their 
descent  from  the  time  of  Noah's  flood,  till  the  rupture  of  the  ridge 
took  place. 

At  the  end  of  three  miles,  he  came  to  the  confluence  of  the 
river  Shenandoa,  which  issued  out  suddenly  from  the  steep  moun- 
tain of  the  Blue  ridge.  This  river  is  but  about  one  third  as  wide 
as  the  Potomac  ;  having,  like  that  river,  also  broken  through  a 
part  of  the  same  ridge. 

He  says  the  more  he  considered  this  spot  and  its  circumstances, 
the  more  he  was  confirmed  in  the  belief  that  formerly  the  chain  of 
the  Blue  Ridge,  in  its  entire  state,  completely  denied  the  Potomac 


342  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

a  passage  onward,  and  that  then  all  the  waters  of  the  upper  part 
of  the  river  having  no  issue,  formed  several  considerable  lakes. 
The  numerous  transverse  chains  that  succeed  each  other  beyond 
Fort  Cumberland,  could  not  fail  to  occasion  several  more  west  of 
North  mountain. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  all  the  valley  of  the  Shenandoa  and  Co- 
nigocheague  must  have  been  the  basin  of  a  single  lake,  extend- 
ing from  Staunton  to  Chambersburgh;  and  as  the  level  of  the  hills 
(even  those  from  which  these  two  rivers  derive  their  source)  is 
much  below  the  chains  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  North  mountain,  it 
is,  evident  that  this  lake  must  have  been  bounded  at  first  only  by 
the  general  line  of  the  summit  of  these  two  great  chains  ;  so  that 
in  the  earliest  ages  it  must  have  spread,  like  them,  toward  the 
south,  as  far  as  the  great  Alleghanies.''' 

At  that  period,  the  two  upper  branches  of  James  river,  equally 
hounded  by  the  Blue  Ridge,  would  have  swelled  it  with  all  their 
waters;  while  towards  the  north,  the  general  level  of  the  lake, 
finding  no  obstacles,  must  have  spread  itself  between  the  Blue 
Ridge  and  the  chain  of  Kittatinny,  not  only  to  the  Susquehan- 
nah  and  Schuylkill,  but  beyond  the  Schuylkill,  and  even  the  Del- 
aware. 

Then  all  the  lower  country,  lying  between  the  Blue  Ridge  and 
the  sea,  had  only  smaller  streams,  furnished  by  the  eastern  de- 
clivities of  that  ridge,  and  the  overflowing  of  the  lake,  pouring 
from  its  summit  over  the  brow  of  the  ridge,  in  many  places  form- 
ing cascades  of  beauty,  which  marked  the  scenery  of  primeval 
landscape,  immediately  after  the  deluge.  In  consequence,  the 
river  there  being  less,  and  the  land  generally  more  flat,  the  ridge 
of  talc  granite  must  have  stopped  the  waters  and  formed  marshy 
lakes.  The  sea  must  have  come  up  to  the  vicinity  of  this  ridge, 
and  there  occasioned  other  marshes  of  the  same  kind,  as  the  Dis- 
mal Swamp,  near  Norfolk,  being  partly  in  the  States  of  Virginia 
and  North  Carolina.  And  if  the  reader  recollect,  the  stratum  of 
black  mud,  mixed  with  osier  and  trees,which  is  found  every  where 
in  boring  on  the  coast,  he  will  see  in  it  a  proof  of  the  truth  of 
this  hypothesis. 

But  when  the  great  embankment  gave  away,  by  the  weight  of 
the  waters  above,  or  by  attrition,  convulsion,  or  whatever  may 
have  been  the  cause  of  their  rupture,  the  rush  of  the  waters 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  343 

brought  from  above  all  that  stratum  of  earth  now  lying  on  the  top 
of  these  subterranean  trees,  osiers  and  mud  above  noticed.  This 
operation  must  have  been  so  much  the  easier,  as  Blue  Ridge  in 
general  is  not  a  homogeneous  mass,  crystalized  in  vast  strata,  but 
a  heap  of  detached  biocks  of  different  magnitudes,  mixed  with  ve- 
getable mould,  easily  diffusable  in  water.  It  is  in  fact  a  wall,  the 
stones  of  which  are  embedded  in  clay;  and  as  its  declivities  are 
very  steep,  it  frequently  happens  that  thaws  and  heavy  rains,  by 
carrying  away  the  earth,  deprive  the  masses  of  stones  of  their 
support,  and  then  the  fall  of  one  or  more  of  these,  occasions  very 
considerable  stone  slips  or  avalanches,  which  sometimes  continue 
for  several  hours. 

From  this  circumstance,  the  falls  from  the  lake  must  have 
acted  with  the  more  effect  and  rapidity.  Their  first  attempts  have 
left  traces  in  those  gaps  with  which  the  line  of  summits  is  inden- 
ted from  space  to  space,  or  from  ridge  to  ridge.  It  maybe  clearly 
perceived  on  the  spot,  that  these  places  were  the  first  drains  of 
the  surplus  waters  subsequently  abandoned  for  others,  where  the 
work  of  demolition  was  more  easy.  It  is  obvious  that  the  lakes 
flowing  off,  must  have  changed  the  whole  face  of  the  lower 
country.  By  this  were  brought  down  all  these  earths  of  a  se- 
condary formation,  that  compose  the  present  plain.  The  ridge 
of  talcky  granite,  pressed  by  more  frequent  and  voluminous  in- 
undations, gave  way  in  several  points,  and  its  marshes  added  their 
mud  to  the  black  mud  of  the  shore,  which  at  present  we  find  bu- 
ried under  the  alluvial  earth,  afterward  brought  down  by  the  en- 
larged rivers. 

In  the  valley  between  the  Blue  Ridge  and  North  mountain,  the 
changes  that  took  place  were  conformable  to  the  mode  in  which 
the  water  flowed  off.  Several  breaehes  having,  at  once  or  in  suc- 
cession, given  a  passage  to  the  streams  of  water  now  called  James, 
Potomac,  Susquehannah,  Schuylkill  and  Delaware,  their  general 
and  common  reservoir  was  divided  into  as  many  distinct  lakes, 
separated  by  the  risings  of  the  ground  that  exceeded  this  level. — 
Each  of  these  lakes  had  its  particular  drain,  and  this  drain  being 
at  length  worn  down  to  the  lowest  level,  the  land  was  left  com- 
pletely uncovered. 

This  must  have  occurred  earlier  with  James,  Susquehannah 
end  Delaware,  because  their  basins  are  more  elevated,  and  it  must 


344  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

have  happened  more  recently  with  the  Potomac,  for  the  opposite 
reason,  its  basin  being  the  deepest  of  all.  How  far  the  Delaware 
then  extended,  the  reflux  of  its  waters  towards  the  east,  he  could 
not  ascertain  ;  however,  it  appears  its  basin  was  bounded  by  the 
ridge  that  accompanies  its  left  bank,  and  which  is  the  apparent 
continuation  of  the  Blue  Ridge  and  North  mountain.  It  is  prob- 
able that  its  basin  has  always  been  separate  from  that  of  the  Hud- 
son, as  it  is  certain  that  the  Hudson  has  always  had  a  distinct 
basin,  the  limit  and  mound  of  which  were  above  West  Point,  at 
the  place  called  the  Highlands,  commencing  immediately  below 
Newburgh. 

At  this  place  on  the  western  shore  of  the  Hudson,  the  ancient 
bed  or  course  of  that  river  can  be  traced  in  a  southwestern  direc- 
tion, to  where  it  once  united  with  the  waters  of  the  Delaware, 
and  thus  they  travelled  to  the  sea  in  company,  whereas  the  former 
has  subsequently  sought  to  travel  alone,  disembouging  its  flood 
into  the  sea  at  an  entire  and  distant  point  of  the  compass.  The 
ancient  bed,  however,  is  much  higher  than  its  present  one,  as  the 
country  over  which  it  travels  plainly  shows,  favoring  greatly  the 
supposition  of  the  lake,  which  had  its  foot  against  this  range  of 
mountains. 

To  every  one  who  views  this  spot,  it  seems  incontestible  that 
the  transverse  chain  bearing  the  name  of  the  Highlands,  was  for- 
merly a  bar  to  the  course  of  the  entire  river,  and  kept  its  waters 
at  a  considerable  height;  and  considering  that  the  tide  flows  as 
far  as  ten  miles  above  Albany,  is  the  proof  that  the  level  above 
the  ridge  was  a  lake  which  reached  as  far  as  to  the  rapids  on  Fort 
Edward. 

At  that  time,  therefore,  theCohoes,  or  falls  of  the  Mohawk,  did 
not  appear,  and  till  this  lake  was  drained  off  through  the  gap  at 
West  Point,  the  sound  of  those  falls  was  not  heard.  The  existence 
of  this  lake  explains  the  cause  of  the  alluvials,  petrified  shells, 
and  strata  of  schist  and  clay  mentioned  by  Dr.  Mitchell,  and 
proves  the  justice  of  the  opinions  of  this  judicious  observer,  res- 
pecting the  stationary  presence  of  waters  in  ages  past,  along  the 
valley  of  many  of  the  American  rivers.  These  ancient  lakes, 
now  drained  by  the  rupture  of  their  mounds,  explains  another  ap- 
pearance which  is  observed  in  the  valley  of  such  rivers  as  are  sup- 
posed to  have  been  once  lakes,  as  the  Tennessee,  the  Kentucky, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  345 

the  Mississippi,  the  Kanhaway,  and  the  Ohio.  This  appearance 
is  the  several  stages  or  flats  observed  on  the  banks  of  these  rivers 
and  most  of  the  rivers  of  America,  as  if  the  water  once  was  higher 
than  at  subsequent  periods,  and  by  some  means  wore  drained  off 
more  ;  so  that  the  volume  of  water  fell  lower  when  a  new  mark 
of  embankment  would  be  formed,  marking  the  original  heights  of 
the  shores  of  these  rivers. 

In  none  is  this  appearance  more  perceptible  than  the  Ohio,  at 
the  place  called  Cincinnati,  or  Fort  Washington.  Here  the  ori- 
ginal or  first  bank  is  nearly  fifty  feet  high,  and  runs  along  pa- 
rallel with  the  river,  at  the  distance  of  about  seventy- five  rods. — 
The  high  floods  sometimes  even  now  overflow  this  first  level.  At 
other  places  the  banks  are  marked,  not  with  so  high  an  ancient 
shore,  but  then  the  lowness  of  the  country  in  such  places  admit- 
ted the  spread  of  the  waters  to  the  foot  of  the  hills  of  nature. — 
When  we  examine  the  arrangement  of  theseflats,  which  are  pre- 
sented in  the  form  of  stages  along  this  river,we  remain  convinced 
that  even  the  most  elevated  part  of  the  plain,  or  highest  level  about 
Cincinnati,  has  been  once  the  seat  of  waters,  and  even  the  primi- 
tive bed  of  the  river,  which  appears  to  have  had  three  different 
periods  of  decline,  till  it  has  sunken  to  its  present  bed  or  place  of 
its  current. 

The  first  of  the  periods  was  the  time  when  the  transverse 
ridges  of  the  hills,  yet  entire,  barred  up  the  course  of  the  Ohio, 
and  acting  as  mounds  to  it,  kept  the  water  level  with  their  sum- 
mits. All  the  country  within  this  level  was  then  one  immense 
lake,  or  marsh  of  stagnant  water.  In  lapse  of  time,  and  from 
the  periodical  action  of  the  floods,  occasioned  by  the  annual 
melting  of  the  snows,  some  feeble  parts  of  the  mound  were  worn 
away  by  the  water.  One  of  the  gaps,  having  at  length  given 
away  to  the  current,  the  whole  effort  of  the  waters  was  collected 
in  that  point,  which  soon  hollowed  out  for  itself  a  greater  depth, 
and  thus  sunk  the  lake  several  yards.  The  first  operation  un- 
covered the  upper  or  first  level  on  which  the  waters  had  stood, 
from  the  time  of  the  subsiding  of  the  deluge,  till  the  first  rupture 
took  place. 

From  the  appearance  of  the  shores  of  the  river,  it  seems  to 
have  maintained  its  position  after  the  first  draining  some  length 
of  time,  so  as  distinctly  to  mark  the  position  of  the  waters  when  a 


346  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

second  draining  took  place,  because  the  waters  had,  by  their  ac- 
tion, removed  whatever  may  have  opposed  the  first  attempt  to 
break  down  their  mound  or  barrier.  The  third  and  last  rent  of 
the  barrier  took  place  at  length,when  the  fall  of  the  water  became 
more  furious,  being  now  more  concentrated,  scooped  out  for  it- 
self a  narrower  and  deeper  channel,  which  is  its  present  bed, 
leaving  all  the  immense  alluvial  regions  of  the  Ohio  bare,  and  ex- 
posed to  the  rays  of  the  sun. 

It  is  probable  that  the  Ohio  has  been  obstructed  at  more  places 
than  one,  from  Pittsburg  to  the  rapids  of  Louisvillle,  as  that  be- 
low Silver  creek,  about  five  miles  from  the  rapids  of  the  Ohio,  and 
towards  Galliopolis  and   the  Scioto,  several  transverse  chains  of 
mountains  exist,  very  capable  of  answering  this  purpose.     Volney 
says  it  was  not  till  his  return  from  Fort  Vincent,  on  the  Wabash, 
that  he   was  struck   with  the    disposition  of  a  chain  of  hills  below 
Silver  creek.     This   ridge  crosses  the  basin  of  the  Ohio,    from 
north  to  south,  and  has   obliged  the   river  to  change  its    direction 
from  the  east  towards  the  west,  to  seek  an  issue,  which  in  fact  it 
finds  at  the  confluence  of  Salt  river  ;  and  it  may  even  be  said  that 
it  required  the  copious  and  rapid  waters  of  this  river  and  its  nu- 
merous branches,  to  force  the  mound  that  opposed  its  way  at  this 
place.     The  steep  declivity  of  these  ridges  requires  about  a  quar- 
ter of  an  hour  to  descend  it  by  the  way  of  the  road,  though  it  is 
good  and  commodious;  and  by  comparison  with  other  hills  around, 
he  conceived  the  perpendicular  height  to  be  about  400  feet,  or  25 
rods.     The  summit  of  those  hills,  when  Volney  visited  them,  was 
too  thickly  covered  with  wood  for  the  lateral  course  of  the  chain 
to  be  seen  ;  but,  so  far  as  he  could  ascertain,  perceived  that  it 
runs  very  far  north  and  south,  and  closes  the  basin  of  the  Ohio 
throughout  its  whole  breadth.     This  basin,  viewed  from  the  sum- 
mit of  this  range,  exhibits   the  appearance  and  form  of  a  lake  so 
strongly,  that  the  idea  of  the  ancient  existence  of  one  here  is  in- 
dubitable.    Other  circumstances  tend  to  confirm  this  idea,  for  he 
observed  from  this  chain  to  White  river,  eight  miles  from  Fort 
Vincent,  that  the  country  is  interspersed  with  a  number  of  ridges, 
many  of  them  steep,  and  even  lofty.     They  are   particularly  so 
beyond  Blue-ridge,  and  on  bolh   banks  of  White  river,  and  their 
direction  is  every  where  such,   that  they  meet    the  Ohio  trans- 
versely. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  347 

On  the  other  hand,  he  found  at  Louisville  that  the  south,  or 
Kentucky  bank  of  the  river,  corresponding  to  them,  had  similar 
ridges;  so  that  in  this  part  is  a  succession  of  ridges,  capable  of 
opposing  powerful  obstacles  to  the  waters.  It  is  not  till  lower 
down  the  river  that  the  country  becomes  flat,  and  the  ample  sa- 
vannahs of  the  Wabash  and  Green  rivers  commence,  which,  ex- 
tending to  the  Mississippi,  exclude  every  idea  of  any  other 
mound  or  barrier  to  the  waters  on  that  side  of  the  river.  There 
is  another  fact  in  favor  of  these  western  rivers  having  been,  in 
many  places,  lakes  found  in  this  country,  and  is  noticed  as  a 
great  singularity.  In  Kentucky,  all  the  rivers  of  that  country 
flow  more  slowly  near  their  sources  than  at  their  mouths, — 
which  is  directly  the  reverse  of  what  takes  place  in  most  rivers 
of  other  parts  of  the  world  ;  whence  it  is  inferred,  that  the  upper 
bed  of  the  rivers  of  Kentucky  is  a  flat  country,  and  that  the 
lower  bed,  at  the  entrance  of  the  vale  of  the  Ohio,  is  a  descending 
slope. 

Now  this  perfectly  accords  with  the  idea  of  an  ancient  lake, — 
for  at  the  time  when  this  lake  extended  to  the  foot  of  the  Allegha- 
nies,  its  bottom,  particularly  towards  its  mouth,  must  have  been 
nearly  smooth  and  level,  its  surface  being  broken  by  no  action  of 
the  waters  ;  but,  when  the  mounds  or  hills  which  confined  this 
tranquil  body  of  water  were  broken  down,  the  soil,  laid  bare,  be- 
gan to  be  furrowed  and  cut  into  sluices  by  its  drains,  and  when  at 
length  the  current  became  concentrated  in  the  vale  of  the  Ohio, 
and  demolished  its  dyke  more  rapidly,  the  soil  of  this  vale  washed 
away  with  violence,  leaving  a  vast  channel,  the  slopes  of  which 
occasioned  the  waters  of  the  plain  to  flow  to  it  more  quickly,  and 
hence  this  curren*,which  notwithstanding  the  alterations  that  have 
been  going  on  ever  since,  have  continued  more  rapid  to  the  pres- 
ent day. 

Admitting,  then,  that  the  Ohio  has  been  barred  up,  either  by 
the  chain  of  Silver  creek,  or  any  other  contiguous  to  it,  a  lake  of 
great  extent  must  have  been  the  result.  From  Pittsburg,  the 
ground  slopes  so  gently  that  the  river,when  low,  does  not  run  two 
miles  an  hour,  which  indicates  a  fall  of  four  inches  to  the  mile. — 
The  whole  distance  from  Pittsburg  to  the  rapids  of  Louisville,  fol- 
lowing all  the  windings  of  the  river,  does  not  exceed  600  miles. 
From  these  data,  we  have  a  difference  of  level,  amounting  to  200 


348  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

feet,  which  does  not  exceed  the  elevation  of  the  ranges  of  hills 
supposed  to  have  once  dammed  up  the  Ohio  river  at  that  place. 
Such  a  mound  could  check  the  waters  and  turn  them  back  as  far 
as  to  Pittsburg. 

Such  having  been  the  fact,  what  an  immense  space  of  the  wes- 
tern country  must  have  lain  under  water  from  the  subsiding  of  the 
flood  till  this  mound  was  broken  down  !  This  is  made  apparent 
by  the  spring  freshets  of  the  Ohio,  at  the  present  time,  which,  ri- 
sing only  to  the  height  of  fifty  feet,  keeps  back  the  water  of  the 
great  Miami,  as  far  as  Grenville,  a  distance  of  seventy  miles  up 
the  country  to  the  north,  where  it  occasions  a  stagnation  of  that 
river,  and  even  an  inundation  of  its  shores,  to  a  great  extent.  In 
the  vernal  inundations  the  north  branch  of  the  Great  Miami  forms 
but  one  with  the  south  branch  ;  the  space  between  becomes  one 
body  of  water. 

*.'  The  south  branch  runs  into  Lake  Erie,  and  is  sometimes 
called  St.  Mary's  river.  The  carrying  place,  or  portage  between 
the  heads  of  these  two  rivers  is  but  three  miles,  and  in  high  water 
the  space  can  be  passed  over  in  a  boat,  from  the  "one  which  runs 
into  the  Ohio,  to  the  other  which  runs  into  Lake  Erie."  This 
Mr.  Vol ney  states  to  have  been  the  fact,  as  witnessed  by  himself 
on  the  spot,  in  the  year  1798  ;  so  near  are  all  these  waters  on  a 
level  with  each  other.  He  says  that,  during  the  year  1792,  a 
mercantile  house  at  Fort  Detroit,  which  is  at  the  head  of  Lake 
Erie,  despatched  two  canoes,  which  passed  immediately,  without 
carrying,  from  the  river  Huron  running  into  Lake  Erie, to  Grand 
river,  which  runs  into  Lake  Michigan,  by  the  waters  overflowing 
at  the  head  of  each  of  these  rivers.  The  Muskingum,  which  runs 
into  the  Ohio,  also  communicates,  by  means  of  its  sources,  and  of 
small  lakes,  with  the  waters  of  the  river  Cayahoga,  which  flows 
into  Lake  Erie. 

From  all  these  facts  united,  it  follows  that  the  surface  of  the 
level  country  between  Lake  Erie  and  the  Ohio,  cannot  exceed  the 
level  of  the  flat  next  to  the  waters  of  the  Ohio  more  than  100  feet, 
nor  that  of  the  second  flat  or  level,  which  is  the  general  surface 
of  the  country,  more  than  seventy  feet;  consequently  a  mound  or 
range  of  mountain,  of  200  feet,  at  Silver  creek,  600  miles  down 
the  Ohio,  from  Pittsburg,  would  have  been  sufficient  to  keep 
back  its  waters,  not  only  as  far  as  Lake  Erie,  but  even  to  spread 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  349 

them  from  the  last  slopes  of  the  Alleghanies  to  the  north  of  Lake 
Superior. 

But  whatever  elevation  we  allow  this  natural  mound,  or  if  we 
suppose  there  were  several  in  different  places,  keeping  back  the 
water  in  succession,  the  existence  of  sedentary  waters  in  this 
western  country,  and  ancient  lakes,  such  as  we  have  pointed  out 
between  Blue  Ridge  and  North  mountain,  is  not  the  less  an  incon- 
trovertible fact,  as  must  appear  to  every  one  who  contemplates 
the  country  ;  and  this  fact  explains,  in  a  simple  and  satisfactory 
manner,  a  number  of  local  circumstances  which,  on  the  other 
hand,  serve  as  proofs  of  the  fact. 

For  instance,  these  ancient  lakes  explain  why,  in  every  part  of 
the  basin  of  the  Ohio,  the  land  is  always  levelled  in  horizontal 
beds  of  different  heights  ;  why  these  beds  are  placed  in  the  order 
of  their  specific  gravity  ;  and  why  we  find  in  various  places  the 
remains  of  trees,  of  osier,  and  of  other  plants.  They  also  hap- 
pily and  naturally  account  for  the  formation  of  the  immense  beds 
of  sea  coal  found  in  the  western  country,  in  certain  situations  and 
particular  districts. 

In  fact,  from  the  researches  which  the  inhabilants  have  made, 
it  appears  that  the  principal  seat  of  coal  is  above  Pittsburg,  in  the 
space  between  the  Laurel  mountain  and  the  rivers  Alleghany  and 
Monongahela,  where  exists  almost  throughout,  a  stratum,  at  the 
average  depth  of  twelve  and  sixteen  feet.  This  stratum  is  sup- 
ported by  the  horizontal  bed  of  calcareous  stones,  and  covered 
with  strata  of  schists  and  slate.  It  rises  and  falls  with  these  on 
the  hills  and  valleys,  being  thicker  as  it  rises  with  the  hills,  but 
thinner  in  the  vales. 

On  considering  its  local  situation,  we  see  it  occupies  the  lower 
basin  of  the  two  rivers  we  have  mentioned,  and  of  their  branches, 
the  Yohogany  and  Kiskemanitaus,  all  of  which  flow  through  a 
nearly  flat  country,  into  the  Ohio  below  Pittsburg.  Now,  on  the 
hypothesis  of  the  great  lake  of  which  we  have  spoken,  this  part 
Will  be  found  to  have  been  originally  the  lower  extremity  of  the 
lake,  and  the  part  where  its  being  kept  back  would  have  occa- 
sioned still  water.  It  is  admitted  by  naturalists  that  coal  is  formed 
of  heaps  of  trees  carried  away  by  rivers  and  floods,  and  after- 
wards covered  with  earth. 

These  heaps  are  not  accumulated  in  the  course  of  the  stream, 


350  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

but  in  parts  out  of  it,  where  they  are  lett  to  their  own  weight  ; 
which  becomes  saturated  with  water,  within  a  sufficient  lapse  of 
time,  so  as  t«  increase  their  gravity  sufficient  to  sink  to  the  depths 
below. 

"  This  process  may  be  observed,  even  now,  in  many  rivers  of 
America,  particularly  in  the  Mississippi,  which  annually  carries 
along  with  its  current  a  great  number  of  trees  Some  of  these 
trees  are  deposited  in  the  bays  and  eddies,  and  there  left  in  still 
water  to  sink,  but  the  greater  part  reach  the  borders  of  the  ocean, 
where  the  current  being  balanced  by  the  tide,  they  are  rendered 
stationary,  and  buried  under  the  mud  and  sand,  by  the  double  ac- 
tion of  the  stream  of  the  river  and  the  reflux  of  the  sea.  In  the 
same  manner,  anciently,  the  rivers  that  flow  from  the  Alleghany 
and  Laurel  mountains  into  the  basin  of  the  Ohio,  finding  towards 
Pittsburg,  the  dead  waters  and  tail  of  the  great  lake,  there  depo- 
sited the  trees  and  drift  wood  which  they  still  carry  away  by 
thousands  when  the  frost  breaks  up  and  the  snows  melt  in  the 
spring.  These  trees  were  accumulated  in  strata,  level  as  the  fluid 
that  bore  them,  and  the  mound  of  the  lakes  sinking  gradually,  as 
we  have  before  explained, its  tail  was  likewise  lowered  by  degrees 
and  the  place  of  deposit  changed  as  the  lake  receded,  forming  that 
vast  bed  which  in  the  lapse  of  ages  has  been  subsequently  covered 
with  earth  and  gravel,  and  acquired  the  mineral  qualities  of  coal, 
the  state  in  which  we  find  it. 

"  Coal  is  found  in  several  other  parts  of  the  United  States,  and 
always  in  circumstances  analagous  to  those  we  have  just  de- 
scribed. In  the  year  1784,  at  the  mouth  of  the  rivulet  La- 
minskicola,  which  runs  into  the  Muskingum,  the  stratum  of  coal 
there  took  fire,  and  burnt  for  a  whole  year.  This  mine  is  a  part 
of  the  mass  of  which  we  have  been  speaking;  and  almost  all  the 
great  rivers  that  run  into  the  Ohio  must  have  deposits  of  this  kind 
in  their  flat  and  long  levels,  and  in  places  of  their  eddies.  The 
upper  branches  of  the  Potomac,  above  and  to  the  left  of  Fort  Cum- 
berland, have  been  celebrated  for  some  years  for  their  strata  of 
coal  embedded  along  the  shores,  so  that  boats  can  lie  at  their 
banks  and  load. 

"Now  this  part  of  the  country  has  every  appearance  of  having 
been  once  a  lake,  produced  by  one  or  more  of  the  numerous 
transverse  ridges  that  bound  the  Potomac,  above  and  below  Fort 
Cumberland. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  351 

"  In  Virginia,  the  bed  of  James  river  rests  on  a  very  consider- 
able bed  of  coal.  At  two  or  three  places  where  shafts  have  been 
sunk,  on  its  left  bank,  after  digging  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet 
through  red  clay,  a  bed  of  coal,  about  twenty-four  feet  thick,  has 
been  found,  on  an  inclined  stratum  of  granite.  It  is  evident  that 
at  the  rapids,  lower  down,  were  the  course  of  the  river  is  still 
checked,  it  was  once  completely  obstructed,  and  then  there  must 
have  been  a  standing  water,  and  very  probably  a  lake.  The  rea- 
der will  observe  that  wherever  there  is  a  rapid,  a  stagnation  takes 
place  in  the  sheet  of  water  above,  just  as  there  is  at  a  mill  head  ; 
consequently  the  drifted  trees  must  have  accumulated  there,  and 
when  the  outlet  of  the  lake  had  hollowed  out  for  itself  a  gap,  and 
sunk  its  level,  the  annual  floods  brought  down  with  them  and  de- 
posited the  red  clay  now  found  there  ;  as  it  is  evident  that  this 
clay  was  brought  from  some  other  place,  for  the  earth  of  such  a 
quality  belongs  to  the  upper  part  of  the  course  of  the  river,  parti- 
cularly to  the  ridge  called  Southwest. 

"  It  is  possible  that  veins  or  mines  of  coal,  not  adapted  to  this 
theory,  may  be  mentioned  or  discovered  on  the  coast  of  the  At- 
lantic. But  one  or  more  such  instances  will  not  be  sufficient  to 
subvert  this  theory  ;  for  the  whole  of  this  coast,  or  all  the  land 
between  the  ocean  and  the  Alleghanies,  from  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  West  Indies,  has  been  destroyed  by  earthquakes, the  traces 
of  which  are  every  where  to  be  seen,  and  these  earthquakes  have 
altered  the  arrangement  of  strata  throughout  the  whole  of  this 
space." 

This  account,  as  given  by  Breckenridge,  of  the  appearance  of 
a  portion  of  the  country  between  two  forks  of  a  small  branch  of 
the  Arkansas  river  favors  this  supposition. 

"  There  is  a  tract  of  country,"  he  says,  "of  about  seventy-five 
miles  square,  in  which  nature  has  displayed  a  great  variety  of  the 
most  strange  and  whimsical  vagaries.  It  is  an  assemblage  of 
beautiful  meadows,  verdant  ridges,  and  misshapen  piles  of  red 
clay,  thrown  together  in  the  utmost  apparent  confusion,  yet  af- 
fording the  most  pleasing  harmonies,  and  presenting  in  every  di- 
rection an  endless  variety  of  euriousand  interesting  objects.  After 
winding  along  for  a  few  miles  on  the  high  ridges,  you  suddenly 
descend  an  almost  perpendicular  declivity  of  rocks  and  clay,  into 
a  series  of  level,  fertile  meadows,  watered  by  some  beautiful  riv- 


352  AMERICAN     ANTIQUITIES 

ulets,  and  here  and  there  adorned  with  shrubbery,  cotton  trees, 
elms  and  cedars. 

"  These  natural  meadows  are  divided  by  chains  formed  of  red 
clay,  and  huge  masses  of  gypsum,  with  here  and  there  a  pyramid 
of  gravel.  One  might  imagine  himself  surrounded  by  the  ruins 
of  some  ancient  city,  and  the  plains  to  have  been  sunk  by  some 
convulsion  of  nature,  more  than  a  hundred  feet  below  its  former 
level,  for  some  of  the  huge  columns  of  red  clay  rise  to  the  height 
of  two  hundred  feet  perpendicular,  capped  with  rocks  of  gymsum." 
This  is  supposed  to  have  been  (he  work  of  an  earthquake. 

Thus  far  we  have  given  the  view  of  this  great  naturalist  (Vol- 
ney)  respecting  the  existence  o'.'  ancient  lakes  to  the  west,  and  of 
the  formation  of  the  strata  of  seacoal  in  those  regions.  If  then 
it  be  allowed  that  timber  being  deposited  deep  in  the  earth,  be- 
comes the  origin  of  that  mineral,  we  discover  at  once  the  chief 
material  which  feeds  the  internal  fires  of  the  globe.  The  earth, 
at  the  era  of  the  great  deluge  being  covered  with  an  immensity 
of  forests,  more  than  it  now  presents,  furnished  the  material, 
when  sunk  and  plunged  to  the  unkovvn  depths  of  the  then  soft 
and  pulpy  globe,  for  exhaustlcss  strata  of  seacoal.  This,  by 
some  means,  having  taken  fire,  continues  to  burn,  and  descend- 
ing deeper  and  deeper,  spreading  farther  and  farther,  till  the  con- 
querless  element  has  even  under  sunk  the  ocean  ;  from  whence  it 
frequently  bursts  forth  in  the  very  middle  of  the  sea,  accompani- 
ed with  all  the  grandeur  of  display  and  phenomena  of  fire  and 
water,  mingled  in  unbounded  warfare.  This  internal  operation 
of  fire  feeding  on  the  unctious  minerals  of  the  globe,  among 
which,  as  chief,  is  seacol,  becomes  the  parent  of  many  a  new 
Island,  thrown  up  by  the  violence  of  that  element.  We  cannot 
but  call  to  recollection  in  this  place,  the  remarkable  allusion  of 
Isaiah,  chap,  xxx.,  33,  which  is  so  phrased  as  almost  induces  a 
belief  that  he  had  reference  to  this  very  circumstance,  that  of  the 
internal  fires  of  the  globe  being  fed  by  wood  carbonated  or  turned 
to  coal.  "For  Tophet  is  ordained  of  old.  *  *  He  hath  made 
it  deep  and  large;  the  pile  thereof  is  fire  and  much  wood;  the 
breath  of  the  Lord,  like  a  stream  of  brimstone  doth  kindle  it.' 
Various  accidents  are  supposeable  by  which  seacoal  may  have, 
at  first,  taken  fire,  so  as  to  commence  the  first  volcano  ;  and  in 
its  operations  to  have  ignited  other  mineral  substances,  as  sulphur, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN'    THE    WEST.  353 

saltpetre,  bitumen,  and  salts  of  various  kinds.  An  instance  of 
the  ignition  of  seacoal  by  accident,  is  mentioned  in  Dr.  Beck's 
Gazetteer,  to  have  taken  place  on  a  tract  of  country  called  the 
American  Bottom,  situated  between  the  Kaskaskia  river  and  the 
mouth  of  the  Missouri.  On  this  great  alluvion,  which  embraces 
a  body  of  land  equal  to  five  hundred  square  miles,  seacoal 
abounds,  and  was  first  discovered  in  a  very  singular  manner.  In 
clearing  the  ground  of  its  timber,  a  tree  took  fire  which  was 
standing  and  was  dry,  which  communicated  to  the  roots,  but  con- 
tinued to  burn  much  longer  than  was  sufficient  to  exhaust  the 
tree,  roots  and  all.  But  upon  examination  it  was  found  to  have 
taken  hold  of  a  bed  of  coal,  which  continued  to  bu  a  until  the 
iire  was  smothered  by  the  falling  in  of  a  large  body  of  earth, 
which  the  fire  had  undermined  by  destroying  the  coal  and  caus- 
ing a  cavity.  This  is  a  volcano  in  miniature,  and  how  long  it 
might  have  continued  its  ravages  with  increased  violence,  is  un- 
known, had  it  not  have  so  opportunely  been  extinguished.  But 
this  class  of  strata  of  that  mineral  lies,  of  necessity,  much  deeper 
in  many  places  than  any  other  of  the  kind,  deposited  since  the 
flood,  by  the  operation  of  rivers  and  lakes.  If,  as  we  have  sup- 
posed in  this  volume,  the  earth,  previous  to  the  flood  of  Noah, 
had  a  greater  land  surface  than  at  the  present  time,  we  find  in 
this  supposition  a  sufficiency  of  wood,  the  deposition  of  which 
being  thrown  into  immense  heaps  by  the  whirls,  waves  and  ed- 
dies of  the  waters,  to  make  whole  subterranean  ranges  of  this 
coal  equal  in  size  to  the  largest  and  longest  mountains  of  the 
globe.  These  ranges,  in  many  places,  rise  even  above  the  or- 
dinary surface  of  the  land,  having  been  bared,  since  the  flood, 
by  the  violence  of  convulsions  occasioned  by  both  volcanic  fires 
and  the  irruptions  of  bodies  of  water  and  incessent  rains.  If 
those  philosophers  who  affect  to  despise  the  writings  of  Moses, 
as  found  in  the  book  of  Genesis,  who  has  given  us  an  account  of 
the  deluge,  would  think  of  this  fact,  the  origin  of  seacoal, 
they  could  not  but  subscribe  to  this  one  account  at  least,  which 
that  book  has  given  of  the  flood.  The  insignificant  deposi- 
tions of  timber,  occasioned  by  the  drawing  off  of  lakes,  or 
change  of  water  courses,  since  the  flood,  cannot  be  supposed  to 
be  in  sufficient  quantities  to  furnish  the  vast  magazines  of  this 
mineral,  compared  with  that  of  the  universal  flood.     These  strata 

23 


354  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

of  coal  appearing  too  in  such  situations  as  to  preclude  all  idea  of 
their  having  been  formed  by  the  operation  of  water  since  the 
flood,  so  that  we  are  driven,  by  indubitable  deduction  of  fair  and 
logical  argument,  to  resort  to  just  such  an  occurrence  as  the  deluge, 
the  account  of  which  is  given  by  Moses  in  the  Scripture.  So 
that  if  there  were  never  an  universal  flood,  as  stated  in  the  Bible, 
the  ingenuity  of  sceptical  philosophy  whould  be  sadly  perplexed, 
as  well  as  all  others,  to  account  for  the  deposition  of  wood  enough 
to  furnish  all  the  mines  of  this  article  found  over  the  whole  earth, 
in  its  several  locations,  if  wood  be  the  origin  of  coal. 

If  another  flood  were  to  drown  the  world,  its  deposits  of  timber 
could  not  equal,  by  one  half,  the  deposits  of  the  Noachian  deluge, 
on  account  of  the  land  surface  of  the  earth  having,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  that  flood,  been  greatly  diminished.  If  it  be  truly  sard 
in  the  Bible,  that  the  earth  perished  by  water,  and  also  that  the 
fountains  of  the  great  deep  (subterranean  seas,)  were  broken  up, 
we  arrive  at  the  conclusion  that  there  was  more  wood  devoted  to 
the  purpose  of  coal  creation,  because  there  was,  it  is  likely,  dou- 
ble the  quantity  of  dry  land  ('  r  the  forest  to  grow  upon.  Fur- 
ther in  proof  that  vegetables  and  wood  are  the  prime  origin  of 
pitcoal,  we  give  the  remarks  of  J.  Correa  de  Serra,  in  a  paper 
read  before  the  American  Philosophical  Society  held  at  Philadel- 
phia, 1815. 

This  gentleman,  in  speaking  of  his  own  examination  of  the 
remarkable  fertility  of  a  certain  part  of  Kentucky,  namely  that 
of  the  Elk-hern  tract,  and  of  other  parts  of  the  west,  says, 
"These  western  strata  of  earth  contain  imbedded  in  them  an  im- 
mense quantity  of  marine  shells,  and  other  organized  bodies,  be- 
longing to  the  animal  and  vegetable  kingdom.  The  vegetable  re- 
remains  in  particular  are  in  such  astonishing  abundance,  that  they 
form  thick  strata  of  coals,  extending  in  some  parts  to  hundreds  of 
miles,  keeping  always  nearly  the  same  level,  as  it  is  particularly 
ascertained  of  that  stratum  of  excellent  coals,  which  is  worked 
at  Coal  hill,  opposite  to  Pittsburgh,  across  the  Monongahela." 

Again,  further  on  in  the  same  paper,  and  read  at  the  same 
time,  the  writer  says  to  the  society.  "  Let  us  now  remember  the 
unbounded  deposites  of  fossil  vegetables  which  are  found  in  this 
western  region,  the  coal  stratum  of  Pittsburgh  for  instance,  ex- 
tending for  hundreds  of  miles.     Let  us   also  reflect  on  the  differ- 


A.VD    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  355 

enee  of  the  alterations  which  vegetable  bodies  undergo,  when  de- 
composing, if  imbedded  between  stony  strata  of  a  ponderous  solid 
nature,  or  only  covered  by  light  permeable  strata,  or  under  a 
column  of  water.  How  different  are  these  operations  from  their 
decomposition  in  the  atmosphere  !  In  the  first  case,  the  pressure 
of  a  solid  stratum,  the  heat  of  a  fermentation  which  cannot  work 
but  on  itself  where  no  principle  is  lost,  but  all  of  them  form  new 
combinations,  reduce  the  decomposed  vegetable  to  the  state  of 
coals.'' — (Transactions  of  the  Phil.  Society,  chap.  \i.,  p.  174) 

But  let  it  be  observed,  the  author  of  the  above  remarks  on  the 
formation  of  coal,  does  not  say  that  timber  of  the  ancient  forests 
of  the  earth,  is  the  origin  of  coal,  neither  does  he  deny  it  ;  but 
believes  that  the  marine  forests,  growing  at  the  bottom  of  oceans, 
is  the  true  origin,  mingled  with  other  marine  substances,  of  the 
creation  of  sea  or  pitcoal.  Accordingly,  at  all  places  where  this 
mineral  is  found,  the  sea,  in  some  former  age  of  the  earth,  must 
have  rested.  America,  therefore,  at  some  unknown  distance  of 
ages,  must  have  been,  in  many  parts,  beneath  the  sea.  But  of 
such  an  idea,  we  believe  nothing,  except  at  the  time  of  Noah's 
flood.  Lakes,  however,  as  Volney  contends,  may  have  deposited 
the  wood  of  forests  in  those  parts  of  the  west  where  coal  is  found. 
Those  places,  therefore,  where  it  is  found  too  elevated  to  admit  of 
this  idea,  we  have  only  to  recollect  that  they  were  strata  of  coal 
so  created  at  the  bottom  of  the  lakes  or  seas,  which  have  now 
shifted  their  situations,  have  been  hove  up  by  convulsions,  occa- 
sioned by  various  agents  acting  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth,  as 
lire,  air,  galvanism  and  water. 

It  is  said  by  those  who  have  examined  the  immense  coal  bed  at 
Pittsburgh,  that  the  very  kind  of  trees  of  which  the  coal  was 
formed  can  be  distinguished,  as  the  beech,  the  maple,  the  birch, 
the  ash,  &c,  lying  in  all  directions  through  the  whole  stratum  of 
the  coal  region 


356  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 


Further  Remarks  on  the  Draining  of  the   Western    Country 
of  its  Ancient  Lakes. 

In  corrobboration  of  the  theory  of  Mr.  Volney  on  this  subject, 
we  give  the  brief  remarks  of  that  accurate  and  pleasing  writer, 
Mr.  Schoolcraft,  well  known  to  the  reading  class  of  the  public. 
He  says,  while  treating  on  the  subject  of  the  appearance  of  the 
two  prints  of  human  feet,  in  the  limestone  strata  along  the  shore 
of  the  Mississippi,  at  St.  Louis:  "May  we  not  suppose  a  barrier 
to  have  once  existed  across  the  lower  part  of  the  Mississippi,  con- 
verting its  immense  valley  into  an  interior  sea,  whose  action  was 
adequate  to  the  production  and  deposition  of  calcareous  strata. — 
We  do  not  consider  such  a  supposition  incompatible  with  the  exist- 
ence of  transition  rocks  in  this  valley  ;  the  position  of  the  latter 
being  beneath  the  secondary.  Are  not  the  great  northern  lakes 
the  remains  of  such  an  ocean  ?  And  did  not  the  sudden  demolition 
of  this  ancient  barrier  enable  this  powerful  stream  to  carry  its 
banks,  as  it  has  manifestly  done,  a  hundred  miles  into  the  gulf  of 
Mexico.  We  think  such  an  hypothesis  much  more  probable,  than 
that  the  every  day  deposits  of  this  river  should  have  that  effect  on 
the  gulf.  We  have  been  acquainted  with  the  mouths  of  the  Mis- 
sissippi for  more  than  a  century  ;  and  yet  its  several  channels,  to 
all  appearance,  are  essentially  the  same  as  when  first  discovered. 
Favoring  the  same  position  or  theory,  we  give  from  Dr.  Beck's 
Gazetteer,  a  quotation  from  Silliman's  Journal,  third  volume,  quo- 
ted by  that  author  from  Bringier  on  the  region  of  the  Mississippi, 
who  says  that,  "Between  White  river  and  the  Missouri,  are  three 
parallel  porphyry  ranges,  running  circularly  from  the  west  to  the 
northeast.  These  three  mountains  are  twenty-eight  miles  across, 
and  seem  to  have  been  above  water,  when  the  whole  country 
around  was  covered  with  an  ocean."  At  the  foot  of  one  of  these 
ranges  was  found  the  tooth  of  some  tremendous  monster,  suppos- 
ed to  be  a  mammoth,  twice  as  large  as  any  found  at  the  Big-bone 
lick.  An  account  of  this  creature,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  give 
it,  has  already  been  done  in  this  work  ;  yet  we  feel  it  incumbent 
to  insert  a  recent  discovery  respecting  this  monster  which  we  had 
not  seen  when  those  pages  went  to  press.     The  account  is  as  fol- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  357 

lows.  There  were  lately  dug  up  at  Massillon,  Starke  county, 
Ohio,  two  large  tusks,  measuring  each  nine  feet  six  inches  in 
length,  and  eight  inches  diameter,  heing  two  feet  in  girth  at  the 
largest  ends.  The  outside  covering  is  as  firm  and  hard  as  ivory, 
but  the  inner  parts  were  considerably  decayed.  They  were  found 
in  a  swamp,  about  two  feet  below  the  surface,  and  were  similar  to 
those  found  some  time  ago  at  Bone-lick,  in  Kentucky,  the  size  of 
which  animal,  judging  from  the  bones  found,  was  not  less  than  six- 
ty feet  in  length,  and  twenty-two  in  height,  and  twelve  across  the 
hips.  Each  tooth  of  the  creatures  mouth  which  was  found,  weigh- 
ed eleven  pounds. — (Clearfield  Banner,  1632.) 

This  is,  indeed,  realizing  the  entire  calculation  made  by  Adam 
Clarke,  the  commentator,  who  tells,  as  before  remarked,  that  hav- 
ing examined  one  toe  of  the  creature  supposed  to  be  the  mammoth, 
he  found  it  of  sufficient  size  and  length  to  give,  according  to  the 
rule  of  animal  proportion,  an  animal  at  least  sixty  feet  in  lengt  h 
and  twenty  five  feet  high. 

The  animal  must  have  come  down  in  its  species,  from  the  very 
outset  of  time,  with  all  other  animals.  A  male  and  female  of  this 
enormous  beast  must  have  been  saved  in  the  ark  ;  but  it  is  likely 
the  Divine  Providence  directed  a  pair  that  were  young,  and  there- 
fore not  as  large  and  ferocious  as  such  as  were  full  grown  would 
be.  The  finding  of  this  animal  in  America,  is,  it  would  appear, 
incontrovertible  evidence  that  the  continent  was,  at  some  period, 
united  with  the  old  world  at  some  place  or  places,  as  has  been  con- 
tended in  this  work  ;  as  so  large  an  animal  could  neither  have 
been  brought  hither  by  men,  in  any  sort  of  craft  hitherto  known, 
except  the  ark  ;  nor  could  they  have  swam  so  far,  even  if  they 
were  addicted  to  the  water.  But  to  return  to  the  subject  of  wes- 
tern lakes.  How  great  a  lapse  of  time  took  place  from  the  sub- 
siding of  the  flood  of  Noah,  till  the  bursting  away  of  the  several 
barriers,  is  unknown.  The  emptying  out  of  such  vast  bodies  of 
water,  as  held  an  almost  boundless  region  of  the  west  in  a  state  of 
complete  submcrgency,  must  of  necessity  have  raised  the  Atlantic, 
so  as  to  envelope  in  its  increase  many  a  fair  and  level  country 
along  its  coasts,  both  on  this  continent  and  those  of  Europe  and 
Africa.  In  such  an  emergency,  all  islands  which  were  low  on  the 
surface,  and  not  much  elevated  above  the  sea,  must  have  been 
drowned,  or  parts  of  them,  so   that   their   hills,  if  any  they  had, 


358  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

would  only  be  left,  a  sad  and  small  memorial  of  their  ancient  do- 
mains. It  may  have  been,  that  the  rush  of  these  mighty  waters 
from  the  west,  flowing  to  the  sea  at  once,  down  the  channels  of  so 
many  rivers,  at  first  broke  up  and  enveloped  the  land  between  the 
range  of  the  West  India  islands  and  the  shores  of  the  gulf  of  Mex- 
ico. It  is  conjectured  by  naturalists,  that  the  time  was  when  those 
islands  were  in  reality  the  Atlantic  coast  of  the  continent.  Some 
convulsion,  therefore,  must  have  transpired  to  bring  about  so  great 
a  change. 

If,  as  Schoolcraft  has  suggested,  the  Mississippi,  in  bursting 
down  its  barriers,  drove  the  earthy  matter  which  accompanied  it 
in  that  occurrence  a  hundred  miles  into  the  sea,  it  may  well  be 
supposed  that  if  all  that  space,  now  the  gulf,  was  then  a  low  tract 
of  country,  which  is  natural  to  suppose,  as  its  shores  are  so  now^ 
that  it  was  overwhelmed,  while  the  higher  parts  of  the  coast,  now 
the  West  India  islands,  are  all  that  remains  of  that  drowned  coun- 
try. The  gulf  of  Mexico  is  full  of  low  islands,  scarcely  above  the 
level  of  the  sea,  which  have  been,  from  the  earliest  history  of  that 
coast,  the  resort  of  pirates.  Their  peculiar  situation  in  this  res- 
pect, would  favor  the  opinion,  that  the  once  low  and  level  shores 
were,  by  the  rush  and  overflowing  of  the  waters,  buried  to  a  great 
extent  in  the  country,  leaving  above  water  every  eminence,  which 
are  now  the  islands  of  the  gulf.  From  an  examination  of  the 
lakes  Seneca,  Cayuga  and  Erie,  it  is  evident  from  their  banks,  that 
anciently  the  water  stood  in  them  ten  and  twelve  feet  higher  than 
at  present  ;  these  also,  therefore,  have  been  drained  a  second 
time,  since  those  of  which  we  have  been  speaking,  of  which  these 
were  once  a  part.  It  is  evident  from  the  remarks  of  Brecken- 
ridge,  which  are  the  result  of  actual  observations  of  that  traveller, 
that  there  was  formerly  an  outlet  from  lake  Michigan  to  the  Mis- 
sissippi, by  the  way  of  the  Illinois  river,  which  heads  near  the 
southern  end  of  that  lake. 

This  is  supported  by  the  well  known  facts,  that  the  waters  of 
all  the  lakes  drained  by  the  St.  Lawrence,  have  sunk  many  feet. 
The  Illinois  shows  plainly  the  marks  of  having  once  conveyed  a 
much  greater  body  of  water  between  its  shores  than  at  the  present 
time.  All  the  western  lakes,  Superior,  Michigan,  Huron,  lake  of 
the  Woods,  Erie,  Seneca,  Cayuga,  and  many  lesser  ones,  are  the 
mere  remnants  of  the  great  inland  fresh  water  sea  which  once  ex- 


AND  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  359 

isted  in  this  region,  and  the  time  may  come  when  all  the  lakes 
will  be  again  drained  off  to  the  north  by  the  way  of  the  St.  Law- 
rance,  and  to  the  south  by  other  rivers,  to  the  sea,  adding  a  con- 
try  of  land  freed  in  a  measure  from  these  waters,  as  great  in 
extent  as  all  the  lakes  put  together.  It  is  believed  by  the  most 
observing  naturalists,  that  the  falls  of  Niagara  were  once  as  low 
down  the  river  as  where  Queenstown  is  situated,  which  is  six 
or  eight  miles  below  the  fall.  If  so,  the  time  may  come,  and  none 
can  tell  how  soon,  when  the  falls  shall  have  worn  through  the  stone 
ridge  or  precipice,  over  which  the  Niagara  is  precipitated,  and 
coming  to  a  softer  barrier  of  mere  earth,  the  power  of  the  water 
would  not  be  long  in  rending  for  itself  a  more  level  channel,  ex- 
tending to  the  foot  of  lake  Erie,  on  an  inclined  plane  of  consider- 
able steepness.  One  shock  of  an  earthquake,  such  as  happened 
in  Virginia,  in  the  vicinity  of  the  coal  mines,  1833,  would  prob- 
ably fracture  the  falls  of  Niagar  i,  so  as  to  force  the  waters  in  its 
subterranean  work,  and  undermine  the  falls. 

This  would  affect  lake  Erie,  causing  an  increased  current  in  its 
waters,  and  the  lowering  of  its  bed,  which  would  also  have  the 
same  affect  on  lakes  Michigan,  Huron  and  Superior,  with  all  the 
rest  of  a  lessor  magnitude,  changingthem  from  the  character  they 
now  bear,  which  is  that  of  lakes,  to  that  of  mere  rivers,  like  the 
Ohio.  In  the  mean  time,  Ontario  would  become  enlarged,  so  as 
to  rise,  perhaps,  to  a  level  with  the  top  of  the  falls,  which  is  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet.  Lake  Ontario  is  but  about  one  hnndred 
and  fifty  feet  below  the  city  of  Utica,  and  Utica  is  four  hundred 
feet  above  the  valley  of  the  Hudson  river ;  consequently,  deduct- 
ing the  hundred  and  fifty  feet,  which  is  the  fall  of  land  from  the 
long  level,  as  it  is  called,  on  which  Utica  stands,  to  the  lake,  there 
will  be  left  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  elevation  of  lake  Ontario 
above  the  vale  of  the  Hudson. 

That  lake,  therefore,  need  to  be  raised  but  a  little  more  than  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet,  when  it  would  immediately  inundate  a 
greater  part  of  the  state  of  New  York,  as  well  as  a  part  of  Upper 
and  all  of  Lower  Canada,  till  the  waters  should  be  carried  off  by 
the  way  of  the  several  rivers  now  existing,  on  the  easterly  and 
southerly  side  of  the  lake,  and  by  new  channels  ;  such  catastro- 
phe would  most  certainly  cut  for  itself,  in  many  directions,  in  its 
course  to  the    Atlantic.     But  we  trust  such  an  occurrence  may 


360  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

never  take  place  ;  yet  it  is  equally   possible,  as  was  the  draining 
of  the  more  ancient  lakes  of  the  west.     And  however  secure  the 
ancient  inhabitants  may  have  felt  themselves,  who  had  settled  be- 
low the  barriers,  yet  that  inland   sea  suddenly  took  up  its  line  of 
march,  to  wage  war  with,  or  to  become  united  to,  its  counterpart, 
the  Atlantic,  and  in  its  travel  bore  away  the  country,  and  the  na- 
tions dwelling  thereon.     It  is  scarcely  to  be  doubted,  but  the  same 
efFects  were  experienced  by  the  ancient  inhabitants  settled  between 
the  Euxine  or  Black  sea  and  the  Mediterranean,  and  the  whole 
coast  of  that  inland  ocean,  where  its  shores  were  skirted  by  low 
countries.     It  is  stated  by  Elucid,  in  a  conversation  that  philoso- 
pher had  with  Anacharsis,  of  whom  we  have  before  spoken  in 
this  work,  that  the  Black  sea  was  once  entirely  surrounded  by  nat- 
ural embankments,  but  that  many  rivers  running  into  it  from  Eu- 
rope and  Asia,  at  length  overflowed  its  barriers,   cutting  for  itself 
a  deep  channel,  lore  out  the  whole  distance  from  its  own  shore  to 
that  of  the  Archipelago,  a  branch  of  the  Mediterranean,  which  is 
something  more  than  a  hundred  miles,  now  called  the  Bosphorus. 
It  is  not  impossible  but  from  the  rush  of  all  these  waters  at  once, 
into  the  Mediterranean,  that  at  that  time  the  isthmus  which  united 
Europe  and  Africa  where  now  is  situated  the  strait  of  Gibraltar, 
was  then  torn  away.     It   is  true  that  the  ancients  attributed  this 
separation  to  the  power  of  Hercules,  which  circumstance,  though 
we  do  not  believe  in  the  strength   of  this   hero,   points  out  clearly 
that  an  isthmus  once  was  there.     By  examining   the  map  of  the 
Black  sea,  we  find  that  beside  the  outlet  of  the  Bosphorus,  there  is 
none  other  ;  so  that  previous  to  the  time  of  that  rupture  it  had  no 
visible  outlet.     Some  internal  convulsions,  therefore,   must  have 
taken  place,  so  that  its  subterranean  channels  became  obstructed, 
and  caused  it  at  once  to  overflow  its  lowest  embankment,  which  it 
appears  was  toward  the  Archipelago,  or  the  west.     The  Caspian 
sea,  in  the  same  country,  has  no  outlet,  though  many  large  rivers 
flow  into  it.     If,  therefore,  this  body  of  water,  which  is  nearly  700 
miles  long,  and  nearly  300  wide,  were  to  be  deranged  in  its  sub- 
terranean outlets,  it  would  also  soon  overflow  at  its  lowest  points, 
which  is  also  on  its  western  side,  at  its  southern  end,  and  rushing 
on  between   the  Georgian  or  Circassian  and  Taurus  mountains, 
would  plough  for   itself  a  channel  to   the  Black  sea.     From   this 
view,  the  rupturing  of  the  ancient  embankments  of  lakes  in  Europe, 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  361 

Asia  and  America,  it  appears  that  the  waters  of  the  Atlantic  are 
now,  of  necessity,  much  deeper  than  anciently  ;  On  which  ac- 
count many  fair  countries,  and  large  islands,  once  thickly  peopled, 
and  covered  with  cities,  towns  and  cultivated  regions,  lie  now 
where  sea  monsters  sport  above  them,  while  whole  tracts  of  coun- 
try once  merged  in  other  parts  of  the  earth  beneath  the  waters, 
have  lifted  hills  and  dales  to  the  light  and  influence  of  the  sun, 
and  spread  out  the  lap  of  happy  countries,  whereon  whole  nations 
of  men  now  live,  where  once  the  wind  drove  onward  the  terrific 
billows. 


Causes  of  the  Disappearance  of  the  Ancient  Nations. 

But  what  has  finally  become  of  these  nations  and  where  are 
their  descendants,  are  questions,  which,  could  they  be  answered, 
would  be  highly  gratifying. 

On  opening  a  mound,  below  Wheeling  on  the  Ohio,  a  few  years 
since,  a  stone  was  found,  having  on  it  a  brand  exactly  similar  to 
the  one  commonly  used  by  the  Mexican  nations,  in  marking  their 
cattle  and  horses. 

From  this  it  is  evident,  that  the  ancient  nations  were  not  sava- 
ges, or  a  trait  of  the  domestication  of  animals  would  not  be  found 
in  the  country,  they  once  inhabited.  The  head  of  the  Sustajases 
or  Mexican  hog,  cut  of  square,  was  found  in  a  saltpetre  cave  in 
Kentucky,  not  long  since,  by  Dr.  Brown.  This  circumstance  is 
mentioned  by  Dr.  Drake,  in  his  Picture  of  Cincinnati.  The  ni- 
tre had  preserved  it.  It  had  been  deposited  there  by  the  ancient 
inhabitants  where  it  must  have  lain  for  ages. 

This  animal  is  not  found,  it  is  said,  north  of  the  Mexican  coun- 
try, the  north  line  of  which  is  about  on  the  40th  degree  of  north 
latitude,  and  the  presumption  is,  that  the  inhabitants  took  these 
animals  along  with  them  in  their  migrations,  until  they  finally 
settled  in  Mexico.  Other  animals,  as  the  elk,  the  moose  and  the 
buffalo,  were  doubtless  domesticated  by  them,  and  used  for  agri- 
cultural purposes,  as  the  ox,  the  horse,  and  various  other  animals 
are  now  in  use  among  us. 


362  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

The  wild  sheep  of  Oregon,  Louisiana,  California  and  the  Rocky 
mountains,the  same  found  in  the  north  of  Asia,  may  be  remnants 
of  the  flocks  of  that  animal,  once  domesticated  all  over  these  re- 
gions by  those  people,  and  used  for  food. 

One  means  of  their  disappearance  may  have  been  the  noxious 
effluvia,  which  would  inevitably  arise  from  the  bottoms  of  those 
vast  bodies  of  water,  which  must  have  had  a  pestilential  effect  on 
the  people  settled  around  them.  This  position  needs  no  elucida- 
tion, as  it  is  known  that  the  heat  of  the  sun,  in  its  action  on 
swamps  and  marshy  grounds,  fills  the  region  round  them  with  a 
deathly  scent,  acting  directly  on  the  economy  and  constitution  of 
the  human  subject,  while  animals  of  coarser  habits  escape.  Who 
has  not  experienced  this  on  the  sudden  draining  of  stagnant  wa- 
ters, or  even  those  of  a  mill  pond?  The  reason  is  the  filth  settled 
at  the  bottoms  of  such  places,  becomes  exposed  by  having  the 
cover  taken  away,  which  was  the  waters,  and  the  winds  immedi- 
ately wafting  the  deleterious  vapors;  the  surrounding  atmosphere 
becomes  corrupted  ;  disease  follows,  with  death  in  its  train.  But 
on  the  sudden  draining  of  so  great  a  body  of  water  from  such  im- 
mense tracts  of  land,  which  had  been  accumulating  filth,  formed 
of  decayed  vegetation  and  animals,  from  the  time  of  the  deluge 
till  their  passage  off  at  that  time,  the  stench  must  have  been  beyond 
all  conception  dreadful. 

Such  is  the  fact  on  the  subsiding  of  the  waters  of  the  Nile  in 
Egypt,  which,  after  having  overflown  the  whole  valley  of  that 
river,  about  five  hundred  miles  in  length,  and  from  fifteen  to 
twenty-five  in  width,  leaves  an  insufferable  stench,  and  is  the  true 
origin  of  the  plague,  which  sweeps  to  eternity  annually  its  thou- 
sands in  that  country. 

It  is  not,  therefore,  impossible  nor  improbable  but  by  this  very 
means,  the  ancient  nations  settled  round  these  waters,  may  have 
indeed  been  exterminated,  or  if  they  were  not  exterminated,  must 
have  been  exceedingly  reduced  in  numbers,  so  as  to  induce  the 
residue  to  flee  from  so  dangerous  a  country,  far  to  the  south,  or 
any  where  from  the  effects  of  the  dreadful  effluvia,  arising  from 
the  newly  exposed  chasms  and  gulfs. 

Such  also  would  be  the  effect  on  the  present  inhabitants,  should 
the  fall  of  Niagara  at  length  undermine  and  wear  down  that  strata 
of  rock  over  which  it  now  plunges,  and   drain  the   lakes  of  the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  363 

\vest,the  remnant  of  the  greater  bodies  of  water  which  once  rested 
there.  In  the  event  of  such  a  catastrophe,  it  would  be  natural 
that  the  waters  should  immediately  flow  into  the  head  water  chan- 
nels of  all  the  rivers  northeast  and  south  of  Lake  Ontario,  after 
coming  on  a  level  with  the  heads  of  the  short  streams  passing  into 
that  lake  on  its  easterly  side. 

The  rivers  running  southeast  and  North  from  that  part  of  Lake 
Ontario,  as  high  up  as  the  village  of  Lyons,  are  a  part  of  the 
Chemung,  the  Chenango,  the  Unadilla,  the  Susquehannah,  the 
Delaware,  the  Mohawk,  the  Schoharie,  the  Au  Sable,  and  the  St. 
Lawrence,  with  all  their  smaller  head  water  streams. 

The  vallies  of  these  streams  would  become  the  drains  of  such  a 
discharge  of  the  western  lakes,  overwhelming  and  sweeping  away 
all  the  works  of  men  in  those  directions,  as  well  as  in  many  other 
directions,  where  the  lowness  of  the  country  should  be  favorable 
to  a  rush  of  the  paters,  leaving  isolated  tracts  of  highlands,  with 
the  mountains  as  islands,  till  the  work  of  submersion  should  be 
over. 

All  this,  it  is  likely,  will  appear  extremely  visionary,  but  it 
should  not  bo  forgotten  that  we  have  predicated  it  on  the  supposed 
demolition  of  Niagara  falls,  which  is  as  likely  to  ensue,  as  that 
the  barriers  of  the  ancient  lakes  should  have  given  away,  where 
the  respective  falls  of  the  rivers  which  issued  from  them,  poured 
over  their  precipices- 

Whoever  will  examine  all  the  circumstances,  says  Volney,will 
clearly  perceive,  that  the  place  where  the  village  of  Queenstown 
now  stands,  the  fall  at  first  commenced,  and  that  the  river,  by 
sawing  down  the  bed  of  the  rock,  has  hollowed  out  the  chasm, 
and  continued  carrying  back  its  breach,  from  age  to  age,  till  it 
has  at  length  reached  the  spot  where  the  cascade  now  is.  There 
it  continues  its  secular  labors  with  slow  but  incessant  activity. — 
The  oldest  inhabitants  of  the  country  remember  having  seen  the 
cataract  several  paces  beyond  its  present  place.  The  frosts  of 
winter  have  the  effect  continually  of  cracking  the  projecting  parts 
of  the  strata,  and  the  thaws  of  spring,  with  the  increased  powers 
of  the  augmented  waters,  loosen  and  tumble  large  blocks  of  the 
rock  into  the  chasm  below. 

Dr.  Barton,  who  examined  the  thickness  of  the  stratum  of  stone, 
and  estimates  it  at  sixteen  feet,  believes  it  rests  on  that  of  blue 


364  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

schist,  which  he  supposes  forms  the  bed  of  the  river,  as  well  as 
the  falls,  up  to  the  Erie.  Some  ages  hence,  if  the  river  continuing 
its  untiring  operations,  may  cease  to  find  the  calcareous  rock  that 
now  checks  it,  and  finding  a  softer  strata,  the  fall  will  ultimately 
arrive  at  Lake  Erie;  and  then  one  of  those  great  desications  will 
take  place,  of  which  the  valleys  of  the  Potomac,  Hudson  and  Ohio 
afford  instances  in  times  past. 


Lake  Ontario  formed  by  a  Volcano. 

Though  the  northern  parts  of  America  have  been  known  to  us 
but  about  two  centuries,  yet  this  interval,  short  as  it  is  in  the  an- 
nals of  nature,  has  already,  says  Volney,  been  sufficient  to  con- 
vince us,  by  numerous  examples, that  earthquakes  must  have  been 
frequent  and  violent  here,  in  times  past,  and  that  they  have  been 
the  principal  cause  of  the  derangements  of  which  the  Atlantic 
coast  presents  such  general  and  striking  marks. 

To  go  back  no  farther  than  the  year  1628,  the  time  of  the  ar- 
rival of  the  first  English  settlers,  and  end  with  1782,  a  lapse  of 
154  years,  in  which  time  there  occurred  no  less  than  forty-five 
earthquakes.  These  were  always  preceded  by  a  noise  resembling 
that  of  a  violent  wind,  or  of  a  chimney  on  fire  ;  they  often  threw 
down  chimnies,  sometimes  even  houses,  and  burst  open  doors  and 
windows  ;  suddenly  dried  up  wells,  and  even  several  brooks  and 
streams  of  water,  imparting  to  the  waters  a  turbid  color,  and  the 
foetid  smell  of  liver  of  sulphur,  throwing  up  out  of  great  chinks 
sand  with  a  similar  smell:  the  shocks  of  these  earthquakes  seemed 
to  proceed  from  an  internal  focus,  which  raised  the  earth  up  from 
below,  the  principal  line  of  which  ran  northeast  and  southwest, 
following  the  course  of  the  river  Merrimack,  extending  southward 
to  the  Potomac,  and  northward  beyond  the  St.  Lawrence,  particu- 
larly affecting  the  direction  of  Lake  Ontario. 

Respecting  these  earthquakes,  Volney  says,  he  was  indebted  to 
a  work  written  by  a  Mr. Williams,  from  whose  curious  researches 
he  had  derived  the  most  authentic  records.    But  the  language  and 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  365 

phrases  he  employs  are  remarkable,  says  Mr.  Volnoy,  for  the 
analogy  they  bear  to  local  facts  noticed  by  himself  respecting  the 
appearance  of  schists  on  the  shores  of  Lake  Erie,  and  about  the 
falls  of  Niagara;  and  by  Dr.  Barton,  who  supposed  it  to  form  the 
bed  on  which  the  rock  of  the  falls  rests. 

He  quotes  him  as  follows  :  "  Did  not  that  smell  of  liver  sul- 
phur imparted  to  the  water  and  sand  vomited  up  from  the  bowels 
of  the  earth,  through  great  chinks,  originate  from  the  stratum  of 
schist,  which  we  found  at  Niagara  beneath  the  limestone,  and 
which,  when  submitted  to  the  action  of  fire,  emits  a  strong  smell 
of  sulphur  V 

It  is  true,  says  Volney,  that  this  is  but  one  of  the  elements 
of  the  substance  mentioned,  composing  schist,  but  an  accurate 
analysis  might  detect  the  error.  This  stratum  of  schkt  is  found 
under  the  bed  of  the  Hudson,  and  appears  in  many  places  in  the 
States  of  New-York  and  Pennsylvania,  among  the  sandstones 
and  granites;  and  we  have  reason  to  presume  that  it  exists  round 
Lake  Ontario,  and  beneath  Luke  Erie,  and  consequently  that  it 
forms  one  of  the  floors  of  the  country,  in  winch  was  the  principal 
focus  of  the  earthquakes  mentioned  by  Mr.  Williams.  The  line 
of  this  focus  running  northwest  and  southeast,  particularly  affec- 
ted the  direction  of  the  Atlantic  to  Lake  Ontario.  This  predilec- 
tion is  remarkable  on  account  of  the  singular  structure  of  this 
lake.  The  rest  of  the  western  lakes,  notwithstanding  their  mag- 
nitude, have  no  great  depth.  Lake  Eric  no  where  exceeds  a 
hundred  or  a  hundred  and  thirty  feet,  and  the  bottom  o(  Lake  Su- 
perior is  visible  in  many  places. 

The  Ontario,  on  the  contrary,  is  in  general  very  deep,  that  is 
to  say,  upwards  of  forty-five  or  fifty  fathoms,  three  hundred  feet, 
and  so  on  ;  and  in  considerable  extent  no  bottom  could  be  found 
with  a  line  of  a  hundred  and  ten  fathoms,  which  is  a  fraction  less 
than  forty  rods. 

This  is  the  case  in  some  places  near  its  shores,  and  these  cir- 
cumstances pretty  clearly  indicate  that  the  basin  of  this  lake  was 
once  the  crater  of  a  volcano  now  extinct.  This  inference  is  con- 
firmed by  the  volcanic  productions  already  found  on  its  borders  ; 
and  no  doubt  the  experienced  eye  will  discover  many  more,  by 
examining  the  form  of  the  great  talus,  or  slope,  that  surrounds 
this  lake  almost  circularly,  and  announces  in  all  parts,  to  the  eye 


366  AMERICAN     ANTIQUITIES 

as  well  as  to  the  understanding,  that  formerly  the  flat  of  Niagara 
extended  almost  as  far  as  the  middle  of  Lake  Ontario,  where  it 
was  sunk  and  swallowed  up  by  the  action  of  a  volcano,  then  in  its 
vigor. 

The  existence  of  this  subterranean  fire  accords  perfectly  with 
the  earthquakes  mentioned  by  Williams,  as  above,  and  these  two 
agents,  which  we  find  here  united,  while  they  confirm  on  the  one 
hand,  that  of  a  grand  subterranean  focus,  at  an  unknown  depth, 
on  the  other  afford  a  happy  and  plausible  explanation  of  the  con- 
fusion of  all  the  strata  of  the  earth  and  stones,  which  occurs 
throughout  the  Atlantic  coast.  It  explains,  too,  why  the  calcare- 
ous and  even  granite  strata  there,  are  inclined  in  the  horizon  in 
angles  of  forty-five  degrees  and  upward,  even  as  far  as  eighty, 
almost  perpendicular  or  endwise,  their  fragments  remaining  in  the 
vacuities  formed  by  the  vast  explosions.  To  this  fracture  of  the 
stratum  of  granite,  are  owing  its  little  cascades;  and  this  fact  in- 
dicates that  formerly  the  focus  extended  south  beyond  the  Poto- 
mac, as  also  does  this  stratum.  No  doubt  it  communicated  with 
that  of  the  West  India  islands. 

As  favoring  this  supposition  of  Monsieur  Volney,  we  recollect 
the  dreadful  earthquakes  of  1811  and  1812,  on  the  Mississippi,  in 
the  very  neighborhood  of  the  country  supposed  to  have  been  the 
scenes  of  the  effects  of  those  early  shocks,  of  probably  the  same 
internal  cause,  working  now  beneath  the  continent,  and  sooner  or 
later  may  make  again  the  northern  parts  of  it  its  place  of  venge- 
ance, instead  of  the  more  southerly,  as  among  the  Andes,  and  the 
Cordilleras  of  South  America. 

The  earthquakes  of  1811  and  1812  took  place  at  New  Madrid, 
on  the  Mississippi,  where  its  effects  were  dreadful,  having  thrown 
up  vast  heaps  of  earth,  destroying  the  whole  plain  upon  which  that 
town  was  laid  out.  Houses,  gardens,  and  the  fields  were  swal- 
lowed up.  Many  of  the  inhabitants  were  forced  to  flee,  exposed 
to  the  horrors  of  the  scenes  passing  around,  and  to  the  inclemen- 
cies of  the  storms,  without  shelter  or  protection.  The  earth 
rolled  under  their  feet,  like  the  waves  of  the  sea.  The  shocks 
of  this  subterranean  convulsion  were  felt  two  hundred  miles 
around. 

And,  further,  in  evidence  of  the  action  of  volcanic  fires  in  the 
west  of  this  country,   we  have  the  following,  from  Dr.  Beck's 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  367 

Gazetteer  of  Illinois  : — "  I  visited  Fort  Clarke  in  1820,  and  ob- 
tained a  specimen  of  native  copper  in  its  vicinity.  It  weighed 
about  two  pounds,  and  is  similar  to  that  found  on  Lake  Superior, 
of  which  the  following  description  was  given  at  the  mint  of  Utrecht 
in  the  Netherlands,  at  the  request  of  Dr.  Eustis.  "  From  every 
appearance,  that  piece  of  copper  seems  to  have  been  taken  from 
a  mass  that  had  undergone  fusion.  The  melting  was,  however, 
not  an  operation  of  art,  but  a  natural  effect  caused  by  a  volcanic 
eruption. 

"The  stream  of  lava  probably  carried  in  its  course  the  aforesaid 
body  of  copper,  that  formed  into  one  collection  as  fast  as  it  was 
heated  enough  to  run  from  all  parts  of  the  mine.  The  united  mass 
was  probably  borne  in  this  manner  to  the  place  where  it  rested 
in  the  soil.  Thus  we  see  that  even  America,  in  its  northern 
parts,  as  well  as  many  parts  of  the  old  world,  as  it  is  called,  has 
felt  the  shock  of  that  engine,  which  is,  comparatively  speaking, 
boundless  in  power,  capable  of  new  modelling  the  face  of  whole 
tracts  of  country,  in  a  few  days,  if  not  hours. 

That  many  parts  of  the  western  country  have  once  been  the 
scene  of  the  devastating  power  of  volcanos,  is  also  maintained  by 
that  distinguished  philosopher,  Rafinesque. — (See  Atlantic  Jour- 
nal, No.  4,  p.  138,  1832.) 

If  by  this  agent  water  is  thrown  out  from  the  bowels  of  the  earth, 
so  as  to  change  the  entire  surface  of  large  districts  in  many  parts 
of  the  old  world,  why  not  in  America,  if  the  tokens  of  such  oper- 
ations arc"  found  here  ? 

Volney  was  the  first  to  call  Lake  Ontario  a  volcano,  and  to 
notice  our  ancient  mountain  lakes,  now  dried  up  by  eruptions  or 
convulsions,  each  having  a  breach  or  water  gap.  I  am  induced 
to  amplify  his  views,  by  deeming  nearly  all  our  lakes  as  so  many 
volcanic  outlets, which  have  not  merely  thrown  water  in  later  pe- 
riods, but  in  more  ancient  periods  have  formed  nearly  all  our  se- 
condary strata,  by  eruptions  of  muddy  water,  mud,  clay,  liquid 
coal,  basalts,  trap.  This  was  when  the  ocean  covered  yet  the 
land. 

Submarine  or  oceanic  volcanos  exist  as  yet  every  where  in  the 
ocean,  and  their  effects  are  known.  They  must  of  course  be  hol- 
low outlets  under  watcr,that  would  become  lakes  if  the  ocean  was 
dried  up.    We  can  form  an  idea  of  their  large  number  and  extent 


368  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

by  the  late  but  natural  discovery,  that  all  the  Lagoon  islands,  and 
circular  clusters  of  islands  in  the  Atlantic,  Pacific  and  Indian 
oceans,  are  volcanic  craters.  This  is  now  admitted,  even  in  En- 
gland ;  and  the  coral  reef  often  crowning  those  clusters  are  later 
superincumbent  formations  by  insects.  The  Bahama  islands,  in 
the  Atlantic,  the  Maldives,  near  India,  and  the  coral  islands  all 
over  the  Pacific,  are  the  most  striking  of  these  singular  volcanic 
clusters,  nearly  at  a  level  with  the  ocean.  Some  of  them  are  of 
immense  extent,  from  sixty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  in  cir- 
cuit, or  even  more. 

Some  circular  bays  and  gulfs  of  the  sea  appear  to  be  similar, 
differing  by  having  only  one  breach.  The  bay  of  Naples  is  one 
also,  an  ancient  crater,  with  islands  in  front. 

The  analogy  between  lakes  and  volcanic  craters  is  obvious. 
Almost  all  fiery  craters  become  lakes  filled  with  water,when  their 
igneous  activity  is  spent. 

All  springs  are  smaller  outlets  of  water,  while  the  fumaroles 
and  holes  ol  igneous  volcanos  are  small  outlets  of  smoke,  fire,  air, 
gases,  hot  mud,  &c.  I  can  perceive  no  essential  difference  be- 
tween them  or  any  other  eruptive  basin,  except  in  degree  of  ca- 
loric or  kind  of  matter  which  they  emit.  They  may  both  be  qui- 
escent or  in  activity.  Springs  vary  as  much  as  volcanos.  We 
have  few  pure  springs — they  commonly  hold  mineral  substances. 
They  are  cold,  warm,  hot,  salt,  bitter,  saline,  bituminous,  limpid, 
colored,  muddy — perpetual  or  periodical,  flowing  or  spouting,  just 
like  volcanic  outlets. 

Therefore  volcanos  are  properly  igneous  springs,  and  springs 
or  lakes  are  aqueous  volcanos  ! 

Under  this  view,  we  have  no  lack  of  volcanic  outlets  in  North 
America,  since  one  half  of  it,  the  whole  boreal  portion,  from  New 
England  and  Labrador  in  the  east  to  North  Oregon  and  Alaska  in 
the  west,  and  from  Lake  Erie  to  the  boreal  ocean,  is  filled  with 
them,  being  eminently  a  region  of  lakes  and  springs, covered  with 
ten  thousand  lakes  at  least. 

To  these  as  well  as  to  the  dry  lakes  of  our  mountains,  the  lime 
stone  craters  and  sinks,  may  be  traced  as  the  original  outlets  of 
our  last  formations,  in  a  liquid  state,  under  the  ocean,  embedding 
our  fossils.  The  basaltic,  trapic,  and  carbonic  formations  have 
the  same  origin,  since  they  are  intermingled.     But  some  kinds 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  369 

of  sands  and  clays  have  been  ejected  since  this  continent  became 
dry  land.  To  trace  all  these  formations  to  their  sources,  deline- 
ate their  streams  or  banks,  ascertain  their  ages  and  ravage  on  or- 
ganized beings,  will  require  time,  assiduty,  zeal  and  accurate  ob- 
servations. 

What  connection  there  is  between  lakes  or  dry  basins  of  pri- 
mitive regions  and  their  formations,  is  not  well  ascertained. — 
Some  are  evidently  the  produce  of  crystalization  ;  but  others, 
forming  streams,  veins,  banks  and  ridges,  may  have  been  ejected 
in  a  fluid  or  soft  state,  before  organic  life  had  begun,  and  thus 
spread  into  their  actual  shapes.  Many  streams  of  primitive 
limestone,  anthracite,  wacke,  grit,  are  probably  so  formed  and 
expanded.  Hollows  in  the  primitive  oeean  must  have  been  the 
outlets  of  these  substances,  now  become  lakes,  after  the  land  be- 
came dry. 

The  power  which  raises  and  ejects  out  of  the  bowels  of  the 
earth  watery,  muddy  and  solid  substances,  either  cold  or  inflamed, 
is  one  of  the  secrets  of  nature;  but  we  know  that  such  a  power  or 
cause  exists,  since  we  see  it  in  operation.  Water  rises  in  lakes 
and  springs  much  above  the  level  of  the  ocean,  while  the  Caspian 
sea  is  under  that  level.  There  is  then  no  uniform  level  for  water 
on  the  globe,  nor  uniform  aerial  pressure  over  them.  Another 
cause  operates  within  the  bowels  of  the  earth  to  generate  and  ex- 
pel liquid  and  solid  substances — perhaps  many  causes  and  powers 
are  combined  there;  galvinism  is  probably  one  of  the  main  agents. 
A  living  power  of  organic  circulation  would  explain  many  earthly 
phenomena. 

Considering,  therefore,  the  omnipotency  of  the  two  agents, 
fire  and  water,  so  created  by  Him  who  is  more  omnipotent, 
what  changes  of  surface  and  of  inhabitants  may  not  have  taken 
place  in  the  western  regions,  as  well  as  in  other  parts  of  Ame- 
rica. 

We  cannot  close  this  subject  better  than  by  introducing  an 
Arabian  fable,  styled  the  Revolutions  of  Time.  The  narrator  is 
supposed  to  have  lived  three  thousund  years  on  the  earth,  and 
to  have  travelled  much  in  the  course  of  his  life,  and  to  have 
noted  down  the  various  changes  which  took  place  with  respect 
to  the  surface  of  the  globe  in  many  places,  and  to  have  beon 

24 


370  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

conversant  with  the  various  generations  of  men  that  succeeded 
each  other. 

This  fable  we  consider  illustrative  of  the  antiquities  of  all  coun- 
tries, as  well  as  of  the  changes  which  have  most  certainly  taken 
place  in  our  own,  as  it  relates  to  surface  and  inhabitants.  The 
name  of  the  traveller  was  Khidr,  and  his  story  is  as  follows: 

I  was  passing,  says  Khidr,  a  populous  city,  and  I  asked  one  of 
the  inhabitants,  "  How  long  has  this  city  been  built?"  But  he 
said,  "This  city  is  an  ancient  city;  we  know  not  at  what  time  it 
was  built :  neither  we  nor  our  fathers. 

Then  I  passed  by  after  five  hundred  years,  and  no  trace  of  the 
city  was  to  be  seen  ;  but  I  found  a  man  gathering  herbs,  and  I 
asked  him,  "  How  long  has  this  city  been  destroyed  ?"  But  he 
said,  "  The  country  has  always  been  thus."  And  I  said,  "  But 
there  was  a  city  here."  Then  he  said,  "  We  have  seen  no  city 
here,  nor  have  we  heard  of  such  from  our  fathers." 

After  five  hundred  years,  I  again  passed  that  way,  and  found 
a  lake,  and  met  there  a  company  of  fishermen,  and  asked  them, 
"  When  did  this  land  become  a  lake?"  And  they  said,  "How 
can  a  man  like  you  ask  such  a  question  ?  The  place  was  never 
other  than  it  is."  But  heretofore,  said  I,  it  was  dry  land.  And 
they  said,  "  We  never  saw  it  so,  nor  heard  of  it  from  our  fa- 
thers." 

Then  after  five  hundred  years  I  returned,  and  behold  the  lake 
was  dried  up;  and  I  met  a  solitary  man,  and  said  to  him,  "When 
did  this  spot  become  dry  land"?"  And  he  said,  "  It  was  always 
thus."  But  formerly,  said  I,  it  was  a  lake;  and  he  said,  "  We 
never  say  it,  nor  heard  of  it  before." 

And  five  hundred  years  afterwards  I  again  passed  by, and  again 
found  a  populous  and  beautiful  city,  and  finer  than  I  had  at 
first  seen  it  ;  and  I  asked  one  of  the  inhabitants,  "  When  was 
this  city  built  1"  And  he  said,  "  Truly  it  is  an  ancient  place, 
and  we  know  not  the  date  of  its  building,  neither  we  nor  our 
fathers." 

The  human  race  has  every  where  experienced  terrible  revolu- 
tions. Pestilence,  wars  and  the  convulsions  of  the  globe,  have 
annihilated  the  proudest  works,  and  rendered  vain  the  noblest  ef- 
forts of  man. 

"As1*  not  the  sage  when  and  by  whom  were  erected  those  lin- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  371 

gering  ruins  of  the  west,  the  imperishable  memorials  of  ages  long 
since  swallowed  up  in  the  ocean  of  time  ;  ask  not  the  wild  Arab 
where  may  be  found  the  owner  of  the  superb  palace, within  whose 
broken  walls  he  casts  his  tent;  ask  not  the  poor  fisherman,  as  he 
spreads  his  nets,  or  the  ploughman  who  whistles  over  the  fields, 
where  is  Carthage?  where  is  Troy?  of  whose  splendor  historians 
and  poets  have  so  much  boasted.  Alas!  they  have  vanished  from 
the  things  that  be,  and  have  left  but  the  melancholy  lesson  of  the 
instability  of  the  most  stupendous  labors  of  our  race." 


Remarks  on   Geology. 

The  evidence  that  the  globe  has  undergone  many  and  dread- 
ful convulsions,  appears  from  its  confused  strata  of  rock,  the 
undermost  or  primitive,  called  granite,  appearing,  frequently, 
above  those  of  a  secondary  or  later  formation  ;  yet  by  no  means 
dare  we  come  to  the  sacrilegious  and  all-astounding  doctrine, 
arrived  at  by  modern  geologists, — which  is,  that  many  ages 
and  revolutions  of  the  globe  had  transpired  before  the  creation  of 
man.  And  also,  that  several  eras  of  creation  had  taken  place 
before  that  event,  instead  of  one,  as  we  are  instructed  in  the  scrip- 
tures. 

To  show  that  such  conclusions  are  arrived  at  by  geologists, 
we  quote  the  following  from  the  pages  of  the  Penny  Magazine,  a 
highly  popular  periodical,  issued  from  the  press  in  London,  under 
the  direction  of  several  of  the  nobility  of  that  country  of  highly 
scientific  character. — (See  No.  70,  for  1833,  p.  178.) 

"  Fossils,  by  which  is  understood  tiie  petrified  remains  of  ani- 
mals, as  their  bones;  also  plants,  shells,  tortoises,  fishes  and  ve- 
getable remains,  as  timber,  leaves,  branches,  ferns,  mosses,  &c, 
all  of  which  are  found  in  various  parts  embedded  in  rocks,  clay, 
gravel,  and  other  strata  of  the  globe.  These,  found  as  they  are, 
reveal  to  us  the  important  and  wonderful  fact,  that  the  author  of 
nature  had  created  different  species  of  animals  and  plants  at  sev- 
eral successive  and  widely  distant  periods  of  time,  and  that  many 


372  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

of  those  which  existed  in  earlier  ages  of  our  globe  had  become 
totally  extinct  before  the  creation  of  others  of  different  characters 
in  later  periods;  that  prior  to 'man  being  called  into  existence,  in- 
numerable species  of  living  beings  had  covered  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  for  a  series  of  ages. 

"We  farther  learn  that  a  very  great  portion  of  those  creatures 
of  the  later  periods  had  become  extinct,  and  had  been  replaced  by 
others.  When  that  great  event,  the  creation  of  man,  took  place, 
the  crust  of  the  earth  had  already  undergone  numerous  changes 
that  appear  to  us  to  afford  indisputable  evidences  of  design — to  be 
evidences  the  most  clear  of  the  establishment  of  an  order  of  things 
adapted  to  the  predetermined  nature  of  that  more  perfect  creature 
about  to  be  sent  as  an  inhabitant  of  the  globe,  to  whom  was  to  be 
given  "  dominion  over  the  fishes  of  the  sea,  and  over  the  fowls  of 
the  air,  and  over  the  cattle,  and  over  all  the  earth." — (Scripture. 
See  Genesis.) 

"  We  are,  also  taught  by  the  study  of  fossils,  that  prior  to  the 
creation  of  man,  there  had  existed  a  totally  different  condition  of 
our  planet,  in  so  far  as  regards  the  distribution  of  land  and  water, 
from  that  which  now  exists;  that  where  there  are  now  continents 
there  must  have  been  deep  seas,  and  that  extensive  tracts  of  land 
must  have  occupied  those  parts  of  the  globe  now  covered  by  the 
ocean." 

Respecting  this  their  opinion,  however,  we  think  that  many  of 
those  appearances  which  indicate  that  once  the  waters  of  the  ocean 
covered  even  the  highest" ranges  of  mountains, are  to  be  accounted 
for  from  the  fact,  that  the  Noachian  deluge  surmounted  fifteen 
cubits  and  upwards,  the  highest  parts  of  the  earth,  and  that  then 
those  deposits  of  marine  shells  and  bones  of  land  and  sea  animals 
took  place. 

As  singular  as  it  may  appear,  we  announced  to  the  reader  that 
the  authors  of  those  opinions  which  go  to  establish  the  existence  of 
an  animal  creation,  and  of  its  duration  for  many  nges  before  the 
time  of  Adam,  affect  also  to  believe  the  scriptures  ;  as  above  it  is 
seen'that  they  quote  from  that  book  the  circumstance  of  man's 
dominion  over  all  animals,  and  over  all  the  earth.  If,  therefore, 
they  believe  that  book,  how  is  it  they  go  about  to  contradict  the 
account  it  gives  of  the  creation  of  the  earth,  as  to  the  time  expen- 
ded in  its  creation,  and  as  to  the  era  when  it  was  created? 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  373 

They,  that  is  the  geologists,  say  that  several  ages  had  passed 
away  before  man  was  created,  but  Moses  says  that  but  five  days 
had  transpired,  when  on  the  sixth  the  man  was  created;  and  to 
fix  the  meaning  of  the  terms  six  days,  as  to  their  actual  amount 
of  time,  we  have  only  to  remember  that  on  that  circumstance, "in 
six  days  God  made  the  heavens  and  the  earth,"  was  predicated 
the  seven  days  cycle  of  time,  called  a  week, which  by  Jewish  and 
Christian  nations  have  always  been  observed.  The  very  obliga- 
tion of  working  six  days  and  of  resting  on  the  seventh, was  found- 
ed on  the  fact  that  in  six  days  God  made  the  heavens  and  earth, 
and  rested  on  the  seventh.  How,  then,  can  it  be  that  immense 
periods  and  ages  of  time  had  rolled  away  before  the  creation  of 
man  ?  If  we  believe  the  account,  as  written  under  the  direction 
of  celestial  inspiration,  by  what  rule  is  six  times  twenty-four 
hours  capable  of  being  attenuated  to  the  length  of  many  ages  or 
periods? 

If  the  six  days  spoken  of  in  the  Scripture,  as  being  the  founda- 
tion of  the  Sabbath,  and  of  its  observance,  are  not  literally  so, 
then  is  the  Sabbath  founded  in  falsehood,  and  cannot  be  morally 
binding  on  any  man  since  the  world  began  :  he,  therefore,  who 
can  attack  the  ten  commandments,  and  drive  one  of  them  out  of 
being,  at  a  blow,  cannot  be  supposed  as  filial  to  the  Scriptures, 
which  give  a  circumstancial  account  of  the  time,  duration,  and 
manner  of  the  creation. 

This  geological  or  stone  argument  respecting  the  age  of  the 
earth  is  certainly  preposterous,  or  the  account  in  Genesis,  of  the 
creation,  is  a  fable.  We,  therefore,  consider  their  deductions, 
that  is  the  authors  of  the  remarks  as  above  recited  from  the  Penny 
Magazine,  but  a  new  and  elaborate  yet  covert  mode  of  overturn- 
ing the  character  of  the  Bible,  and  should  be  watched  with  a  jea- 
lous eye  by  the  scientific,  among  those  who  do  believe  the  Scrip- 
tures. 

The  kinds  of  animals,  according  to  John  Mason  Good,  whose 
species  seem  now  to  be  extinct,  and  whose  remains  are  found  em- 
bedded in  tbe  rock  of  the  second  formation,  are  not  such  as  had 
bones,  but  mere  worms,  insects  and  shells  of  the  sea,  and  certain 
kinds  of  vegetation,  all  of  the  lowest  links  in  the  scale  of  either 
animal  or  vegetable  Organization.  This  is  important  to  our  views 
of  this  subject  ;  because,  if  in  this  second  stratum,  which  lies  on 


374  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

the  first  or  lowermost,  or  primitive  rock,  there  are  no  remains  of 
animals  which  either  walked  on  the  earth,  or  flew  in  the  air,  or 
swam  in  the  sea,  it  goes  far  to  disprove  the  theory  of  geologists, 
respecting  the  passing  away  of  several  ages,  before  man  was 
made  ;  as  such  kinds  of  fossils  are  soon  produced,  and  soon  em- 
bedded. 

But  in  the  third  formation  of  rock,  of  the  kind  denominated 
Jlolez,  or  flat  rock,  of  which  there  are  several  kinds,  are  found 
the  fossil  bones  of  large  animals,  in  great  abundance,  with  those 
of  vegetation  also.  The  remains  of  all  animals  so  discovered  are 
of  the  kinds  well  known,  except  in  a  ^g\v  instances,  as  belonging 
to  animals  not  extinct.  In  this  very  rock  of  the  third  and  last 
formation,  in  its  lowest  parts,  are  found  the  remains  of  fishes, 
tortoises  and  shells,  though  much  mutilated,  which  Circumstance 
goes  very  far  in  favor  of  this  formation  of  stratum  having  been 
produced  since  the  flood,  its  foundation  being  laid  at  that  time, — 
while  the  bones  of  land  animals  lie  embedded  above  them,  and  of- 
ter  misgled. 

Next  above  this,  are  the  alluvial  deposits,  containing  fossils, 
which  are  found  all  over  the  globe,  at  certain  places.  In  this 
are  found  the  bones  of  the  largest  kinds  of  animals,  some  of 
which  are  unknown,  but  were  quadrupeds  of  the  largest  magni- 
tudes. 

The  same  kinds,  however,  are  found  also  embedded  in  stone  of 
the  third  class  in  local  situations,  and  produced  by  local  causes, 
as  the  sudden  submergency  of  a  certain  place,  by  the  disruption 
of  a  sea,  lake  or  rivers,  involving  the  destruction  of  a  great  num- 
ber of  animals,  both  of  land  and  water,  which  have  in  certain 
places  been  found. 

Such  are  the  fossils  found  in  the  composite  rocks,  that  fill 
up  the  great  basin  around  Paris  ;  the  celebrated  quarries  of  Al- 
ningen,  on  the  Rhine, — which,  says  Good,  have  been  erroneously 
regarded  of  the  same  antiquity  as  Werner's  universal  forma- 
tions of  the  kind,  found  in  the  third  class  of  rocks,  as  before  spe- 
cified. 

Now  as  these  remains  consist  in  a  good  degree  of  animals 
known,  it  is  an  evidence  that  ihis  very  stratum  has  been  formed 
since  the  flood  ;  because  the  chief  argument  which  supports  the 
theory  of  several   ages  having  passed  away,  before  the  creation 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  375 

of  Adam,  rests  on  the  strata  of  those  ages  containing  altogether 
unknown  animals,  and  these  nothing  but  worms  and  insects  of  the 
waters. 

That  the  bones  of  large  animals  should  be  thus  found  in  solid 
rocks  of  the  third  formation,  and  to  have  become  such  since  the 
flood,  is  not  incredible,  as  nearly  four  thousand  years  have  passed 
away  since  that  era.  And  suppose  the  animals  whose  fossils  are 
found  in  local  situations,  were  involved  by  the  disruption  of  the 
waters  of  some  lake  or  inland  sea,  a  thousand  years  since  the 
flood;  even  then,  time  enough  has  long  ago  transpired  for  the  for- 
mation of  this  stratum. 

If  so,  it  is  then  a  clear  case  that  such  animals,  both  of  land  and 
water,  as  were  killed  by  the  flood  may  have  contributed  solely  to 
the  fossil  formations,  which  are  considered  universal,  and  distin- 
guished from  those  which  are  local  and  later. 

The  bones  of  those  immense  animals,  which  by  geologists  are 
supposed  to  have  inhabited  the  earth  before  the  time  of  Adam, 
may  be  nothing  more  than  sea  animals,  the  species  of  which  may 
even  now  exist;  for  who  will  pretend  to  an  acquaintance  with  all 
the  inhabitants  which  feed  on  the  pastures  covering  the  bottom  of 
the  great  deep  1  The  bones  of  these  were,  doubtless,  thrown 
over  the  earth  by  the  flood,  and  mingled  with  those  of  land  ani- 
mals, and  where  the  kind  of  earth  favored  the  formation  of  rock, 
they  are  found  ;  while  others  have  crumbled  to  earth,  not  so  de- 
posited. 

We  see  no  necessity  of  this  dream  about  ages  antecedent  to 
the  time  of  man's  creation.  The  hypothesis  is  not  called  for,  as 
time  enough  since  that  time  has  transpired,  to  produce  all  the  ap- 
pearances of  the  fossil  kind  belonging  to  geology. 

But  in  all  the  excavations  which  have  hitherto  been  made,  and 
among  all  the  fossil  discoveries,  the  bones"  of  man  have  not  been 
found  embedded  in  rock  of  the  third  formation.  But  this  is  not 
to  say  they  never  will  be  found,  in  some  future  excavations. — 
AVe  should  naturally  expect  to  find  this  kind  of  fossil,  as  it  is 
certain  the  earth  was  populous  with  men  before  the  flood.  This 
we  learn,  from  a  remarkable  passage  to  this  effect,  found  in 
Genesis,  several  times  repeated,  at  chapter  vi..  verses  11,  12  and 
13.  "  The  earth  also  was  corrupt  before  God,  and  the  earth  was 
filled  with  vioknce.     And  God  looked  upon  the  earth,  and  behold 


376  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

il  was  corrupt  And  God  said  unto  Noah,  the  end  of  all  flesh  is 
come  before  me  ;  for  the  earth  is  filled  with  violence."  How, 
therefore,  could  this  be,  unless  it  was  filled  with  inhabitants  of  our 
race  ? 

If  many  parts  of  the  earth  which  was  dry  land  before  the  flood 
is  now  ocean,  it  at  once  cuts  off  the  opportunity  of  geological  re- 
search in  a  great  measure,,  and  lessens  the  chance  of  finding  fos- 
sil bones  of  the  human  subject.  Again,  all  such  of  the  race, 
whose  bones  may  have  sunk  down  into  the  soft  and  miry  earth, 
while  covered  by  the  flood,  and  did  not  chance  to  be  covered  by 
those  kinds  of  stratum  convertible  into  stone,  would  of  course  re- 
turn to  mould  or  earth,  as  it  was,  and  therefore  cannot  be  distin- 
guished. 

Now  as  strata  of  any  kind  are  extremely  rare,  which  contain 
the  bon?s&£  animals,  it  is  not  very  singular  that  they  are  not  found, 
and  the  circumstance  can  never  be  used  as  a  proof  against  the 
flood  of  Noah. 

It  is  dangerous  to  inculcate  opinions  which  go  to  overthrow  the 
confidence  men  have  in  the  Scriptures.  The  moment  this  is 
done,  the  depraved  mind  feels  itself  lightened  of  a  monstrous  bur- 
den. It  is  far  better  and  more  becoming  us,,  that  "  God  be  true, 
and  every  man  a  liar."  The  dreams  of  the  geologist  figure  but 
poorly  in  competition  with  heaven  about  the  origin  of  things,  and 
the  manner  of  creation. 

Were  the  doctrine  true,  that  several  ages  had  transpired  before 
the  reputed  time  of  the  creation  of  Adam,  in  which  the  globe  had 
been  populous  with  animals,  we  only  should  ascertain  that  all 
that  trouble  was,  so  far  as  we  are  able  to  perceive,  for  nothing, — 
as  there  could  be  no  possible  use  in  their  existence,  except  to  de- 
vour each  other,  and  to  return  to  earth  as  they  were.  The  works 
of  God  are  always  presented  to  us,  being  complete  from  their 
foundation  to  their  climax.  But  man  being  not  among  the  num- 
ber of  his  works  at  first,  on  this  hypothesis,  shows  thereby  a  lack 
of  perfection,  so  far  as  concerns  the  operations  of  his  hands,  in 
the  early  and  supposed  ages  of  the  planet. 

The  existence  of  the  globe  even  now, with  all  its  animals  of  land 
and  sea,  with  all  its  phenomena  of  arrangement,  could  bring  no 
praise,  no  glory  to  the  Creator,  without  a  man,  or  some  order  of 
intellectual  being-;,  who  should  be  able  to  admire,  and  to  adore,. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  377 

through  his  works,  the  author.  Through  man,  all  animals  praise 
God;  hut  without  him,  they  are  as  though  they  had  not  been  :  to 
this  view  even  the  Scriptures  would  seem  to  agree,  and  to  speak 
of  it  much  in  the  same  way.  (See  Rev.  v.  13.)  "And  every 
creature  which  is  in  heaven  and  on  the  earth  and  under  the  earth, 
and  such  as  are  in  the  sea,  and  all  that  are  in  them,  heard  I  say- 
ing, Blessing,  honor,  glory  and  power  be  unto  him  that  sitteth  up- 
on the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb  for  ever  and  ever."  But  with- 
out man,  this  voice,  so  far  as  creation  is  concerned,  besides  the 
man,  could  never  have  ascended,  as  there  could  have  been  no 
medium  through  which  God  could  have  received  praise — no  pos- 
sible way,  that  his  multifarious  operations  should  in  the  least  be 
appreciated,  without  such  a  being  as  man  is,  having  a  reasonable 
soul,  andfpowers  of  perception  suited  to  his  station. 

But  if  we  believe  the  account  as  related  by  Moses,  we  perceive 
that  man  and  animals  were  made  at  the  same  time,  with  the 
exception  of  but  a  few  hours,  so  that  this  head  of  creation  was 
not  wanting  in  the  very  outset  of  time.  But,  on  the  contrary, 
if  we  suppose,  with  those  of  the  geological  school,  that  m or e  time, 
immensely  more  than  has  elapsed  since  the  days  of  Adam,  had 
passed  away  before,  then  are  we  met  at  every  turn,  with  this  in- 
superable incongruity,  of  a  creation  without  a  head. 


History  of  America. 

The  following  is  from  the  pen  of  the  late  William  Wirt,  of 
Virginia,  on  the  subject  of  the  ancient  inhabitants  of  this  coun- 
try : — 

Mr.  Flint  and  other  travellers  and  sojourners  in  the  west,  state 
that  the  impress  of  the  leaves  of  the  bread  fruit  tree,  and  the 
bamboo,  have  frequently  been  found  in  peat  beds,  and  fossil  coal 
formations,  in  the  neighborhood  of  the  Ohio.  Pebbles  of  disrup- 
tion, vast  masses  of  lead  ore  far  from  the  mine,  stratified  rocks, 
earth  and  sands,  specimens  of  organic  animal  and  vegetable  re- 
mains, belonging  to  a  tropical  climate,  clearly  indicate  some  im- 


378  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

portant  and  extensive  changes,  occasioned  by  fire  or  water,  in  the 
whole  great  valley  of  the  Mississippi.  Then  the  regular  wa'ls, 
the  bricks,  the  medals,  the  implements  of  iron  and  copper,  buried 
in  a  soil  which  must  have  been  undisturbed  for  ages,  with  the  al- 
phabetic characters  written  on  the  cliffs,  as  plainly  show  that  other 
races  of  men  have  existed  and  passed  away.  And  what  a  world 
must  that  have  been,  when  the  mammoth  and  the  megolonyx  trod 
the  plains,  and  monstrous  lizards,  whose  bones  are  now  rescued 
from  the  soil,  and  which  must  have  been  at  least  eighty  feet  in 
length,  reared  their  heads  from  the  rivers  and  the  lakes  ! 

The  mighty  remains  of  the  past,  to  which  we  have  alluded,  in- 
dicate the  existence  of  three  distinct  races  of  men,  previous  to  the 
arrival  of  the  existing  white  settlers. 

The  monuments  of  the  first  or  primitive  race,  are  regular  stone 
walls,  wells  stoned  up,  brick  hearths,  found  in  digging  the  Louis- 
ville canal,  medals  of  copper,  and  silver  swords,  and  other  imple- 
ments of  iron.  Mr.  Flint  assures  us  that  he  has  seen  these  strange 
ancient  swords.  He  has  also  examined  a  small  iron  shoe,  like  a 
horse  shoe,  encrusted  with  the  rust  of  ages,  and  found  far  below 
the  soil,  and  the  copper  axe,  weighing  about  two  pounds,  singu- 
larly tempered,  and  of  peculiar  construction. 

These  relics,  he  thinks,  belonged  to  a  race  of  civilized  men, 
who  must  have  disappeared  m«ny  centuries  ago.  To  this  race  he 
attributes  the  hieroglyphic  characters  found  on  the  limestone 
bluffs  ;  the  remains  of  cities  and  fortifications  of  Florida;  the 
regular  banks  of  ancient  live  oaks  near  them,  and  the  bricks 
found  at  Louisville,  nineteen  feet  below  the  surface,  in  regular 
hearths,  with  the  coals  of  the  last  domestic  fire  upon  them:  these 
bricks  were  hard  and  regular,  and  longer  in  proportion  to  their 
width  than  those  of  the  present  day. 

To  the  second  race  of  beings  are  attributed  the  vast  mounds  of 
earth,  found  throughout  the  whole  western  region,  from  Lake 
Erie  and  west  Pennsylvania  to  Florida  and  the  Rocky  mountains. 
Some  of  them  contain  skeletons  of  human  beings,  and  display 
immense  labor.  Many  of  them  are  regular  mathematical  figures 
— parallelograms  and  sections  of  circles,  showing  the  remains  of 
gateways  and  subterranean  passages.  Some  of  them  are  eighty 
feet  high,  and  have  trees  grown  on  them  apparently  of  the  age  of 
five  hundred  years.     They  are  generally  of  a  soil  differing  from 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  379 

that  which  surrounds  them,  and  they  are  most  common  in  situa- 
tions where  it  since  has  been  found  convenient  to  build  towns  and 
cities. 

One  of  these  mounds  was  levelled  in  the  centre  of  Chillicothe, 
and  cart  loads  of  human  bones  removed  from  it.  Another  may 
be  seen  in  Cincinnati,  in  which  a  thin  circular  piece  of  gold,  al- 
loyed with  copper,  was  found  last  year.  Another  in  St.  Louis, 
called  the  falling  garden,  is  pointed  out  to  strangers,  as  a  great 
curiosity. 

Many  fragments  of  earthen  ware,  some  of  curious  workman- 
ship, have  been  dug  throughout  this  vast  region — some  represent- 
ed drinking  vessels,  some  human  heads,  and  fome  idols.  They 
all  appear  to  be  moulded  by  the  hand,  and  hardened  in  the  sun. 
These  mounds  and  eaithen  implements  indicate  a  race  inferior  to 
the  first,  which  was  acquainted  with  the  use  of  iron.  * 

The  third  race  are  the  Indians,  now  existing  in  the  western 
territories.  In  the  profound  silence  and  solitude  of  these  western 
regions,  and  above  the  bones  of  a  buried  world,  how  must  a  phi- 
losophic traveller  meditate  upon  the  transitory  state  of  human  ex- 
istence, when  the  only  traces  of  the  being  of  two  races  of  men  are 
these  strange  memorials  !  On  this  very  spot,  generation  after 
generation  has  stood,  has  lived,  has  warred,  grown  old  and  pass- 
ed away;  and  not  only  their  names,  but  their  nation,  their  lan- 
guage has  perished,  and  utter  oblivion  has  closed  over  their  once 
populous  abodes  !  We  call  this  country  the  New  World.  It  is 
old  !  Age  after  age,  and  one  physical  revolution  after  another, 
has  passed  over  it,  but   who  shall  tell  its  history? 


Resemblance,  of  the  Western  Indians  to  the  Ancient  Greeks. 

The  reader  will  recollect  we  have  shown  before,  that  the 
Greek  fleet  once  moored  on  the  cost  of  Brazil,  in  South  America, 
said  to  be  the  fleet  of  Alexander  the  Great,  and  also  the  supposed 
Greek  carving,  or  sculpture,  in  the  cave  on  the  Ohio  river. 


380  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

In  addition,  we  give  from  Mr.  Volney's  View  of  America,  his 
comparison  of  the  ancient  Greek  tribes  with  the  tribes  of  the'  west- 
ern Indians.  He  says,  the  limits  of  his  work  would  not  allow  him 
to  enter  into  all  the  minutia?  of  this  interesting  subject  ;  and  there- 
fore should  content  himself  with  saying,  that  the  more  deeply  we 
examine  the  history  and  way  of  savage  life,  the  more  ideas  we  ac- 
quire that  illustrate  the  nature  of  man  in  general,  the  gradual  for- 
mation of  societies,  and  the  character  and  manners  of  the  nations 
of  antiquity. 

While  this  author  was  among  the  Indians  of  the  west,  he  was 
particularly  struck  with  the  analogy  between  the  savages  of  North 
America  and  the  so  much  vaunted  ancient  nations  of  Greece  and 
Italy.  In  the  Greeks  of  Homer,  particularly  in  those  of  his  Iliad, 
he  found  the  customs  and  manners  of  the  Iroquois,  Deleware,  and 
Miamis,  strikingly  exemplified.  The  tragedies  of  Sophocles  and 
Euripides,  paint  almost  literally  the  sentiments  of  the  red  men  re- 
specting necessity,  fatality,  the  miseries  of  human  life,  and  the 
rigor  of  blind  destiny.  But  the  piece  most  remarkable  for  variety, 
combination  of  features  and  resemblance,  is  the  beginning  of 
the  history  of  Thucydides,  in  which  he  briefly  traces  the  habits 
and  way  of  life  of  the  Greeks,  before  and  after  the  Trojan  war, 
up  to  the  age  in  which  he  wrote.  This  fragment  of  their  history 
appears  so  well  adapted,  that  we  are  persuaded  the  reader  will  be 
pleased  at  having  it  laid  before  him,  so  that  he  can  make  the  com- 
parison for  himself. 

"It  is  certain  that  the  rigion  now  known  by  the  name  of  Greece, 
was  not  formerly  possessed  by  any  fixed  inhabitants,  but  was  sub- 
ject to  frequent  migrations,  as  constantly  every  distinct  people  or 
tribe  yielded  up  their  seats  to  the  violence  ofa  larger  supervening 
number.  But,  as  to  commerce,  there  was  none,  and  mutual  fear 
prevented  intercourse,  both  by  land  and  sea  ;  as  then  the  only 
view  of  culture  was  barely  to  procure  a  penurious  subsistence,  as 
surperfluous  wealth  was  a  thing  unknown*" 

"Planting  was  not  their  employment,  it  being  uncertain  how 
soon  an  invader  might  come  and  dislodge  them  from  their  unfor- 
tified habitations  ;  and  as  they  thought  they  might  every  where 
find  their  daily  support,  they  hesitated  but  little  about  shifting  their 
habitations.     And  for  this  reason  they  never  flourished   in   the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  381 

greatness  of  their  cities,  or  any  other  circumstance  of  power. — 
But  the  richest  tracts  of  country  were  ever  more  particularly  lia- 
ble to  this  frequent  change  of  inhabitants,  such  as  that  now  called 
Thessaly  and  Bceotia,  and  Peloponesus  chiefly,  except  Arcadia, 
and  in  general  the  most  fertile  parts  of  Greece.  For  the  natural 
wealth  of  their  soil,  in  particular  districts,  increased  the  power  of 
some  amongst  them ;  that  power  raised  civil  dissension,  which 
ended  in  their  ruin,  and  at  the  same  time  exposed  them  more  to 
foreign  attacks." 

It  was  only  the  barrenness  of  the  soil  that  preserved  Attica 
through  the  longest  space  of  time,  quiet,  and  undisturbed,  in  one 
uninterrupted  series  of  possessors.  One,  and  not.  the  least  convinc- 
ing proof  of  this  is,  that  other  parts  of  Greece,  because  of  the 
fluctuating  condition  of  the  inhabitants,  could  by  no  means,  in 
their  growth  keep  pace  with  Attica.  The  most  powerful  of  those 
who  were  driven  from  the  other  parts  of  Greece,  by  war  or  sedi- 
tion, betook  themselves  to  the  Athenians  for  secure  refuge,  and  as 
they  obtained  the  privilege  of  citizens,  have  constantly,  from  re- 
mote time,  continued  to  enlarge  that  city  with  fresh  accessions  of 
inhabitants  ;  insomuch,  that,  at  last,  Attica,  being  insufficient  to 
support  its  numbers,  they  sent  over  colonies  to  Ionia. 

The  custom  of  wearing  weapons,  once  prevailed  all  over  Greece, 
as  their  houses  had  no  manner  of  defence,  as  travelling  was  full 
of  hazard,  and  their  whole  lives  were  passed  in  armour,  like  bar- 
barians. A  proof  of  this,  is  the  continuance  still,  in  some  partsof 
Greece,  of  those  manners,  which  were  once,  with  uniformity,  com- 
mon to  all.     The  Athenians  were  the  first  who  discontinued  the 

« 
custom  of  wearing  their  swords,  and  who  passed  from  the  savage 

life  into  more  polite  and  elegant  manners.  Sparta  is  not  closely 
built  ;  the  temples  and  public  edifices  by  no  means  sumptuous, 
and  the  houses  detached  from  each  other,  after  the  old  mode  of 
Greece. 

In  their  war  manners  they  resemble  the  Indians  of  America,  tor 
after  a  certain  engagement  they  had  with  an  enemy,  and  being 
victorious,  they  erected  a  trophy  upon  Leucinna,  a  promontory 
of  Corcyra,  and  put  to  death  all  the  prisoners  they  had  taken,  ex- 
cept one  who  was  a  Corinthian. 

The  pretended  golden  age  of  those  nations  was  nothing  better 
than  to  wander  naked  in  the  forests  of  Hellas  and  Theesaly,  Iir- 


382  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ing  on  herbs  and  acorns  ;  by  which  we  perceive  that  the  ancient 
Greeks  were  truly  savages  of  the  same  kind  as  those  in  America, 
and  placed  in  nearly  similar  circumstances  of  climate,  since 
Greece  covered  with  forests,  was  then  much  colder  than  at  pres- 
ent. Hence  we  infer,  that  the  name  of  Pelasgian,  believed  to  be- 
long to  one  ;*id  the  same  people,  wandering  and  dispersed  about 
from  the  Crimea  to  the  Alps,  was  only  the  generic  appellation  of 
the  savage  hordes  of  the  first  inhabitants,  roaming  in  the  same 
manner  as  the  Hurons  and  Algonquins,  or  as  the  old  Germans 
and  Celts. 

And  we  should  presume,  with  reason,  that  colonies  of  foreign- 
ers, farther  advanced  in  civilization,  coming  from  the  coast  of 
Asia,  Phoenicia,  and  even  Egypt,  and  settling  on  those  of  Greece 
and  Latium,  had  nearly  the  same  kind  of  intercourse  with  these 
aborigines  ;  sometimes  friendly,  sometimes  hostile  ;  as  the  first 
English  settlers  in  Virginia  and  New-England  had  with  the  Amer- 
ican savages. 

By  these  comparisons  we  should  explain  both  the  intermixture 
and  disappearance  of  some  of  those  nations,  the  manners  and  cus- 
toms of  those  inhospitable  times,  when  every  stranger  was  an  en- 
my,  and  every  robber  a  hero  ;  when  there  was  no  law  but  force, 
and  no  virtue  but  bravery  in  war  ;  when  every  tribe  was  a  nation, 
and  every  assemblage  of  huts  a  metropolis. 

In  this  period  of  anarchy  and  disorder,  of  savage  life,  -e  should 
see  the  origin  of  that  character  of  pride  and  boasting,  perfidious- 
ness  and  cruelty,  dissimulation  and  injustice,  sedition  and  tyranny, 
that  the  Greeks  display  throughout  the  whole  course  of  their  his- 
tory ;  we  should  perceive  the  source  of  those  false  ideas  of  virtue 
and  glory,  sanctioned  by  the  poets  and  orators  of  those  ferocious 
days  ;  who  have  made  war  and  its  melancholy  trophies,  the  lofti- 
est aim  of  man's  ambition,  the  most  shining  road  to  renown,  and 
the  most  dazzling  object  of  ambition  to  the  ignorant  and  cheated 
multitude.  And  since  the  polished  and  civilized  people  of  Christ- 
endom have  made  a  point  of  imitating  these  nations,  and  consider 
their  politics  and  morals,  like  their  poetry  and  arts,  the  types  of 
all  perfection  ;  it  follows  that  our  homage,  our  patronage,  and 
veneration,  are  addressed  to  the  manners  and  spirit  of  barbarous 
and  savage  times. 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  383 

The  grounds  of  comparison  are  so  true,  that  the  analogy  reach- 
es even  to  their  philosopical  and  religious  opinions  ;  for  all  the 
principles  of  the  stoic  school  of  the  Greeks,  are  found  in  the  prac- 
tice of  the  American  savages  ;  and  if  any  should  lay  hold  of  this 
circumstance  to  impute  to  the  savages  the  merit  of  being  philoso- 
phers, we  retort  the  supposition,  and  say,  we  ought,  ou^he  contra- 
ry, to  conclude,  that  a  state  of  society,  in  which  precepts  so  re- 
pugnant to  human  nature  were  invented  for  the  purpose  of  ren- 
dering life  supportable,  must  have  been  an  order  of  things,  and  of 
government,  not  less  miserable  than  the  savage  state.  This  opin- 
ion is  supported  by  the  whole  history  of  these  Grecian  times,  even 
in  their  most  brilliant  periods,  and  by  the  uninterrupted  series  of 
their  own  wars,  seditions,  massacres,  and  tyrannical  proscrip- 
tions, down  to  the  time  of  their  subjugation  by  those  other  sava- 
ges of  [taly,  called  the  Romans  ;  who,  in  their  character,  politics, 
and  aggrandizement,  have  a  striking  resemblance  to  the  Six  Na- 
tions. 

With  regard  to  religious  notions,  these  do  not  form  a  regular 
system  among  the  savages,  because  every  individual  in  his  inde- 
pendent state,  makes  himself  a  creed  after  his  own  fancy.  If  we 
may  judge  from  the  accounts  of  the  historians  of  the  first  settlers, 
and  those  of  late  travellers  in  the  northwest,  it  appears  that  the 
Indians  compose  their  mythology  in  the  following  manner  : 

First  :  a  Great  Manitau,  or  superior  being  ;  who  governs  the 
earth  and  Ihe  acreal  meteors,  the  visible  whole  of  which  constitutes 
the  universe  of  a  savage.  This  Great  Manitau  residing  on  high, 
without  his  having  any  clear  idea,  who  rules  the  world,  without 
giving  himself  much  trouble  ;  sends  rain,  wind,  or  fair  weather, 
according  to  his  fancy  ;  sometimes  makes  a  noise,  which  is  the 
thunder,  to  amuse  himself ;  concerns  himself  as  little  about  the 
affairs  of  men  as  about  those  of  other  living  beings  that  people  the 
earth  ;  does  good,  without  taking  any  thought  about  it ;  suffers  ill 
to  be  perpetrated  without  its  disturbing  his  repose,  and  in  the 
mean  time,  leaves  the  world  to  a  destiny,  or  fatality,  the  laws  of 
which  are  anterior,  and  paramount  to  all  things. 

Under  his  command  are  subordinate  Manitaus,  or  genii,  innu- 
merable, who  peeple  earth  and  air,  preside  over  every  thing  that 
happens,  and  have  each  a  separate  employment.  Of  these  genii, 
some  are  good  ;  and  these  do  all  the  good  that  takes  place  in  na- 


384  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

ture  ;  others  are  bad,  and  these  occasion  all  the  evil  that  happens  to 
living  beings. 

It  is  to  the  latter  chiefly,  and  almost  exclusively,  that  the  savag- 
es address  their  prayers,  their  propitiatory  offerings,  and  what  re- 
ligious worship  they  have  ;  the  object  of  which  is,  to  appease  the 
malice  of  these  manitaus^  as  men  appease  the  ill  humor  of  morose, 
bad  men.  This  fear  of  genii  is  one  of  their  most  habitual  thought, 
and  that  by  which  they  are  most  tormented.  Their  most  intrepid 
warriors  are,  in  this  respect,  no  better  than  their  women  ;  a  dream, 
a  phantom  seen  at  night  in  the  woods,  or  a  sinister  cry,  equally 
alarms  their  credulous,  superstitious  minds. 

Their  magicians,,  or  as  we  more  properly  call  them_,  jugglers, 
pretend  to  very  familiar  intercourse  with  these  genii ;  they  are, 
however,  greatly  puzzled  to  explain  their  nature,  form  and  aspect. 
Not  having  our  ideas  of  pure  spirit,  they  suppose  them  to  be  com- 
posed of  substances,  yet  light,  volatile  and  invisible,  true  shadows 
and  manes,  after  the  manner  of  the  ancients.  Sometimes  they 
select  some  one  of  these  genii,  whom  they  suppose  to  reside  in  a 
tree,  a  serpent,  a  rock,  a  cataract,  and  this  they  make  their  tetih, 
or  god,  to  which  they  resort,  like  the  African.  The  notion  of 
another  life,  is  a  pretty  general  belief  among  the  savages.  They 
imagine  that  after  death  they  shall  go  into  another  climate  and 
couutry,  where  game  and  fish  abound,  where  they  can  hunt  with- 
out being  fatigued,  walk  about  without  fear  of  an  enemy,  eat  very 
fut  meat,  and  live  without  care  or  trouble.  The  Indians  of  the 
north,  place  this  climate  toward  the  southwest,  because  the  summer 
winds,  and  the  most  pleasing  and  genial  temperature,  come  from 
that  quarter. 

This  sketch  of  Indian  manners,  is  supposed  sufficient  by  Mr. 
Volney,  to  prove  that  there  is  a  real  analogy  between  the  mytho- 
logical ideis  of  the  Indians  of  North  America  and  those  of  the 
Asiatic  Tartars,  as  they  have  been  described  by  the  learned  Rus- 
siens,  who  have  visited  them  not  many  years  since. 

The  analogy  between  them  and  the  nations  of  the  G reeks,  is 
equally  evident.  We  discern  the  Great  Manitau  of  the  savages, 
in  the  Jupiter  of  the  heroic  ages,  or  their  savage  times  ;  with  this 
difference  only,  that  the  Manitau  of  the  Americans,  leads  a  melan- 
choly, poor,  and  wearisome  life,  like  themselves  ;  while  the  Jupit- 
er of  Homer,  and  of  Hesiod,  displays  all  toe  magnificence  of  the 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  385 

court  of  Hecatompylean  Thebes,  the  wonderful  secrets  of  which 
have  been  disclosed  to  us  in  the  present  age.  See  the  elegant 
work  of  Mr.  Denon,  on  the  high  degree  of  taste,  learning,  and 
perfection,  at  which  the  arts  had  arrived  in  that  Thebes,  which 
was  buried  in  the  night  of  history,  before  Greece  or  Italy  were 
known. 

In  the  lesser  Manitaus  of  the  Indians,  are  equally  evident  the 
subordinate  deities  of  Greece  ;  the  genii  of  the  woods  and  foun- 
tains, and  the  demons  honored  with  a  similar  superstitious  worship. 
The  conclusion  Volney  draws  from  all  this  is,  not  that  the  In- 
dians have  derived  their  notions  from  Greeee,  but  rather  are  de- 
rivable from  Shamanism,  or  the  Lamic  system  of  Budda,  which 
spread  itself  from  Hindostan  among  all  the  savages  of  the  old 
world,  where  it  is  found  even  to  the  extremities  of  Spain,  Scotland 
and  Cimbrica. 

Yet  as  traits  of  the  Grecian  nations  are  found,  especially  in 
South  America,  as  in  the  discovery  of  the  subterranean  cavity  of 
mason  work,  noticed  before,  and  in  the  cave  on  the  Ohio, 
it  is  not  impossible,  but  that  from  the  Greeks,  sometime  in 
this  country  before  the  Indians  found  their  way  here,  they  may 
have  communicated  their  mythological  notions  to  the  more  an- 
cient inhabitants,  from  whom  the  Tartars,  or  our  Indians,  when 
they  conquered  or  drove  away  that  people,  imbibed  their  opin- 
ions ;  as  it  is  now  without  precedent,  that  the  conquered  have 
given  to  the  conquerer  their  religion  as  well  as  their  country. 


Traits  of  Ancient  Romans  in  America. 

On  some  of  the  first  pages  of  this  work  we  have  ventured 
the  conjecture,  that  the  Romans  colonized  various  parts  of  Ameri- 
ca. We  still  imagine  such  a  conjecture  by  no  means  impossible, 
as  tokens  of  their  presence  are  evidently  yet  extant  in  the  vale  of 
Mexico.  See  page  269,  where  is  an  account  of  a  temple,  which 
was  built  and  dedicated  as  sacred  to  the  worship  of  the  sua  and 
moon. 

26 


396  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

The  religions  of  nations  furnish,  it  is  presumed,  the  strongest 
possible  evidence  of  origin.  On  this  account,  the  temples  of  the 
sun  and  moon  in  Mexico,  exactly  answer  to  the  same  object  of 
devotion,  worshipped  by  the  ancient  Romans. 

That  they  are  similar  in  both  countries,  we  prove  from  Gibbon's 
Roman  empire,  page  233,  vol.  1st,  as  follows  : — The  sun  was 
worshipped  at  Emesa,  by  the  Romans,  under  the  name  of  Elaga- 
balus  or  God,  under  the  form  of  a  black  conical  stone,  which,  it  was 
universally  believed,  had  fallen  from  heaven,  on  that  sacred 
place. 

This  stone,  we  observe,  was  undoubtedly  what  is  termed  an  aero- 
lithis,  a  copious  account  of  which  is  given  by  Dr.  Adam  Clarke, 
as  being  thrown  out  of  the  moon  by  the  force  of  volcanic  eruptions; 
in  that  planet,  which,  as  soon  as  they  had  passed  out  of  the  moon's 
attraction,  fell  immediately  to  the  earth,  being  drawn  hither  by 
the  stronger  force  of  the  centripetal  power.  A  stone  falling  to  the 
earth  under  such  circumstances,  was  quite  sufficient  to  challenge 
the  adoration  of  the  Pagan  nations  as  coming  down  from  the  gods, 
or  from  the  sun,  as  a  representative  of  that  luminary. 

Accordingly,  this  stone  became  deified,  and  was  set  up  to  be 
worshipped,  as  the  sun's  vicegerent  among  men.  Gibbon  says 
that  to  this  protecting  deity,  the  stone,  Antonius,  not  without  some 
reason,  ascribed  his  elevation  to  the  throne  of  the  Roman  empire. 
The  triumph  of  this  stone  god  over  all  the  religions  of  the  earth, 
was  the  great  object  of  this  emperor's  zeal  and  vanity  :  and  the 
appellation  of  Elagabalus,  which  he  had  bestowed  on  the  airoli- 
this,  was  dearer  to  that  emperor  than  all  the  titles  of  imperial 
greatness 

In  a  solemn  procession  through  the  streets  of  Rome,  the  way 
was  strewed  with  gold  dust  :  the  black  stone  set  in  precious  gems, 
was  placed  on  a  chariot,  drawn  by  six  milk  white  horses,  richly 
caparisoned.  The  pious  emperor  held  the  reins,  and  supported 
by  his  ministers,  moved  slowly,  with  his  face  toward  the  image, 
that  he  might  perpetually  enjoy  the  felicity  of  the  divine  presence. 

In  a  magnificent  temple,  raised  on  the  Palatine  mount,  the  sac- 
rifices of  the  god  Elagabalus  were  celebrated  with  every  circum- 
stance of  cost  and  solemnity.  The  richest  wines,  the  most  extra- 
ordinary victims,  and  the  rarest  aromatics,  were  profusely  con- 
sumed on  his  altar.     Around  him  a  chorus  of  Syriaa  damsels  per- 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THK    WEST.  367 

formed  their  lascivious  dances  to  the  sound  of  barbarian  music, 
whilst  the  gravest  personages  of  the  state  and  army,  clothed  in 
long  Phoenician  tunics,  officiated  in  the  meanest  functions,  with 
affected  zeal,  and  secret  indignation. 

To  this  temple,  as  to  a  common  centre  of  religious  worship,  the 
imperial  fanatic  attempted  to  remove  the  Ancilia,  the  Palladium, 
and  all  the  sacred  pledges  of  the  faith  of  Numa.  A  crowd  of  in- 
ferior deities  attended  in  various  stations,  the  majesty  of  the  god 
of  Emesa,  Elagabalus. 

But  the  court  of  this  god  was  still  imperfect,  till  a  female  of  dis- 
tinguished rank  was  admitted  to  his  bed.  Pallas  had  been  first 
chosen  for  his  consort  ;  but  as  it  was  dreaded  lest  her  warlike  ter- 
rors might  affright  the  soft  delicacy  of  a  Syrian  deity,  the  moon 
adored  by  the  Africans,  under  the  name  of  Astarte,  was  deemed 
a  more  suitable  companion  for  the  sun.  Her  image,  with  the  rich 
offerings  of  her  temple  as  a  marriage  portion,  was  transported,  with 
solemn  pomp,  from  Carthage  to  Rome  ;  and  the  day  of  these  mys- 
tic nuptials  was  a  general  festival  in  the  capital,  and  throughout 
the  empire. 

Here  then,  at  Emesa,  in  Italy,  the  Romans  worshipped  the  sun 
and  moon  ;  so  did  the  Mexicans,  with  equal  pomp  and  costliness, 
in  the  vale  of  Mexico.  If,  therefore,  in  the  two  countries,  the 
same  indentical  religion,  having  the  same  identical  objects  of  wor- 
ship existed,  it  would  seem  no  great  stretch  of  credulity,  to  sup- 
pose them  practised  by  the  same  people  in  either  country. 

The  ancient  Romans,  or  rather  the  Romans  after  they  had  ris- 
en to  great  consequence,  and  had  founded  and  built  manv  cities, 
were  remarkable  in  one  particular,  and  this  was  in  the  constrnctir  n 
of  a  grand  national  road,  of  3740  English  miles  in  length.  This 
national  road  issued  from  the  Forum  of  Rome,  traversed  Italv, 
pervaded  the  provinces  and  terminated  only  by  the  frontiers  of 
the  empire,  and  was  divided  off  intodistinc  t  miles,  by  stones  being 
set  up  at  the  termination  of  each,  as  in  the  present  times. 

The  same  was  the  case  with  the  ancient  people  of  South  Amer- 
ica, in  the  times  of  the  Incas  ;  who,  as  Humboldt  informs  us,  had 
one  grand  road,  which  is  even  traceable  at  the  present  time,  of  a 
thousand  miles  in  length,  running  along  the  high  ground  of  the 
Cordilleras,  and  was  paved  with  large  flat  stones  th*'  whale 
length. 


388  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES,". 

In  this  very  respect,  that  is,  of  paving  their  roads  with  large 
stones,  the  Romans  and  the  South  Americans  were  alike.  For 
Gibbon  says,  that  in  the  construction  of  the  Roman  national  high- 
way, they  not  only  perforated  mountains,  raised  bold  arches  over 
the  broadest  and  most  rapid  streams,  but  paved  it  with  large  stones 
and  in  some  places  even  with  granite. 

In  another  respect  they  are  alike  ;  the  Romans  raised  this  road 
so  as  to  be  able  to  overlook  the  country  as  it  was  travelled  ;  so  also 
did  the  Americans,  in  choosing  the  high  grounds  of  the  Cordilleras 
to  build  it  upon. 

It  would  seem  also,  that  in  the  very  construction  of  their  cities, 
towns  and  palaces,  as  found  scattered  over  many  parts  of  South 
America,  even  along  on  the  coast  of  the  Pacific,  according  to 
Humboldt  and  more  recent  researches,  they  modelled  them  in  some 
sense,  after  the  manner  of  the  Romans  ;  especially  in  the  vastness 
of  their  capacity,  or  area  which  they  occupied. 

However,  it  is  clear,  that  as  the  American  architecture  did  not 
partake  of  the  refinement  of  taste  in  the  finish  of  their  buildings, 
which  characterise  those  of  the  Roman,  that  they,  the  former,  are 
the  elder  of  the  two  ;  and  that  the  American  nations  in  the  persons 
of  their  ancestors,  came  from  Africa,  and  about  the  country  of  the 
Mediterranean,  in  the  very  first  age  of  their  improvement,  or  de- 
parture from  barbarism.  From  all  this  it  cannot  but  be  inferred, 
that  the  continent  is  indebted  to  that  part  of  the  old  world  for  that 
class  of  inhabitants,  who  introduced  among  the  first  nations  of  the 
continent,  the  arts  as  found  in  practice  by  Columbus,  when  he 
landed  on  its  shores. 

With  this  view,  we  think  there  is  light  thrown  on  the  curious 
subject  of  the  Mexican  tradition,  with  respect  to  the  white  and 
bearded  men  before  spoken  of  in  this  volume  ;  who,  as  they  say, 
came  among  them  from  the  rising  sun,  and  become  their  legisla- 
tors. And  as  the  Romans  were  a  maritime  people,  and  had  become 
refined  long  before  the  savages  of  the  north  of  Europe,  and  made, 
according  to  Gibbon,  prodigious  voyages,  they  may  have  been  the 
very  people  who  colonized  the  islands  of  Jesso  and  Japan,  who 
were  a  white  and  bearded  race,  from  whom,  in  another  part  of  this 
work,  we  have  supposed  these  Mexican  legislators  may  have  been 
derived.  In  either  case  there  is  no  difficulty  ;  the  origin  is  tho 
same. 


AND  DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST 


389 


We  are  firm  in  the  belief  that  the  Carthaginians,  Phoenicians, 
Persians,  Hindoos,  Chinese,  Japanese,  Roman  and  Greek  nations 
of  antiquity,  and  others,  have  had  more  to  do  in  the  peopling  of  the 
wilds  of  A  merica,  as  well  also  as  the  Europeans,  after  their  civil- 
ization, than  is  generally  supposed. 

There  was  found  among  the  nations  of  Mexico,  another  trait 
of  character  strongly  resembling  a  Roman  practice  ;  and  this  was 
that  of  single  combat  with  deadly  instruments,  called  the  fight  of 
the  gladiators.  This  among  the  Romans  was  carried  to  so  shame- 
ful and  murderous  a  degree,  that  Commodus,  one  of  their  Emper- 
ors, killed  with  his  own  hands,  in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  as  a 
gladiator,  seven  hundred  and  thirty-five  persons. 

Of  this  emperor,  Gibbon  says,  that  being  elated  with  the  praises 
of  the  multitude,  which  gradually  extinguished  the  innate  sense 
of  shame,  Commodus  resolved  to  exhibit  before  the  eyes  of  the 
Roman  people,  those  exercises,  which  till  then  he  had  decently 
confined  within  the  walls  of  his  palace,  and  to  the  presence  of  his 
favorites 

On  the  appointed  day  the  various  motives  of  flattery,  fear,  and 
curiosty,  attracted  to  the  ampitheatre  an  innumerable  multitude 
of  spectators  ;  and  some  degree  of  applause  was  deservedly  be- 
stowed on  the  uncommon  skill  of  the  imperial  performer.  Wheth- 
er he  aimed  at  the  head  or  heart  of  the  animal,  the  wound  was 
alike  certain  and  mortal.  With  arrows,  whose  points  were  shap- 
ed in  the  form  of  a  crescent,  Commodus  often  intercepted  the  rap- 
id career,  and  cut  asunder  the  long  and  bony  neck  of  the  ostrich. 
A  panther  was  let  loose,  and  the  archer  waited  till  he  had  leaped 
upon  a  trembling  malefactor.  In  the  same  instant  the  shaft  flew, 
the  beast  dropped  dead,  and  the  man  remained  unhurt.  The  dens 
of  the  amphitheatre  disgorged  at  once  a  hundred  lions  ;  a  hundred 
darts  in  succession,  from  the  unerring  hand  of  Commodus  laid 
them  dead  as  they  ran  raging  around  the  arena. 

Such,  it  appears,  were  the  prowess  and  the  sports  of  the  ancient 
Romans,  whose  counterpart,  as  it  respects  this  peculiar  trait,  the 
fights  of  the  gladiators,  was  found  among  the  Mexican  usages  of 
North  America. 

Again,  when  the  Romans  first  got  footingin  the  island  of  Britain 
they  erected  or  laid  the  foundation  of  a  town,  which  they  named 
Verulam,  which  soon  took  the  title  and  rank  of  a  city.    This  town, 


390  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIE8 

according  to  their  peculiar  manner,  was  at  first  circumscribed  by 
a  wall,  including  about  one  hundred  acres,  the  traits  of  which  still 
appear. 

These  square  enclosures  are  found  in  America,  as  treated  upon 
in  our  account  of  the  Roman  squares,  at  or  near  Marietta  ; 
strengthening  the  belief  that  Roman  colonies  have,  in  former  ages 
settled  in  America. 


Traits  of  White  Nations  in  Georgia  and  Kentucky  before 
Columbus' 's  Time,  and  the  Traditions  of  the  Indians  re- 
specting them. 

From  the  American  Journal  of  Sciences  and  the  Arts,  we  have 
a  highly  interesting  description  of  the  gold  districts  in  Georgia  and 
North  Carolina,  extending  west  even  unto  the  state  of  Tennessee. 
In  this  Journal,  gold  is  treated  on  as  being  extremely  abundant, 
and  from  the  situation  of  the  veins,  is  far  more  eligible  to  the  op- 
erations of  the  minor,  than  the  gold  mines  of  South  America  ; 
these  having,  as  is  supposed,  been  greatly  deranged  in  places,  and 
buried  deep  by  the  operations  of  volcanoes,  while  those  in  the  states 
are  still  in  their  primitive  state  of  formation. 

Gold  is  found  connected  with  various  formations  of  slate,  with 
red  clay,  and  in  the  bottoms  of  streams,  mingled  withthe  sand  and 
gravel.  It  is  found  with  the  heavy  gravelly  earth  of  the  moun- 
tains, but  most  of  all  in  the  kind  of  rock  called  quartz,  which  is 
also  mingled  with  slate.  In  North  Carolina,  on  Valley  river,  gold 
is  found  in  abundance,  connected  with  the  quartz  rock,  which  also 
abounds  with  crystal,  running  in  veins  in  every  direction,  in  tis- 
sues from  the  size  of  a  straw  to  that  of  a  man's  arm.  The  quartz 
is  in  great  masses,  very  compact,  and  of  a  yellow  golden  hue, 
from  the  abundant  presence  of  the  metal.  In  the  bottom  of  this 
river  much  deposited  gold  is  found  in  strata. 

It  would  appear  from  the  evidences  yet  remaining,  that  the  an- 
cient inhabitants  were  not  insensible  to  the  existence  of  the  golden 
mines  here,  nor,  of  course  of  their  value  ;  for,  "in  the  vicinity  were 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    T»E    WEST.  391 

found  the  remains  of  ancient  works  ;  many  shafts  have  been  sunk 
by  them  in  pursuit  of  the  ore,  and  judging  from  the  masses  thrown 
up,  one  of  them  penetrated  a  quartz  rock  to  a  great  depth,  as  a- 
bout  thirty-feet  still  lies  open  to  view. 

There  is  also  a  deep  and  difficult  cut  across  a  very  bold  vein  of 
this  rock,  in  pursuit  of  metal,  but  it  is  now  much  filled  up,  having 
been  used  subsequently  for  an  Indian  burying  ground.  At  this 
place,  says  the  Journal,  nothing  short  of  the  steel  pickaxe,  could 
have  left  the  traces  on  the  stones  which  are  found  here. 

Not  far  from  this  place,  have  been  found  the  remains  of  a  small 
furnace,  the  walls  of  which  had  been  formed  of  soap  stone,  so  as 
to  endure  the  heat  without  being  fractured.  In  the  county  of  Ha- 
bersham, in  Georgia,  was  lately  dug  out  of  the  earth,  at  a  place 
where  the  gold  ore  is  found,  a  small  vessel  in  the  form  of  a  skillet. 
It  was  fifteen  feet  under  ground,  made  of  a  compound  of  tin  and 
copper,  with  a  trace  of  iron.  The  copper  and  tin  in  its  composi 
tion,  are  undoubtedly  the  evidence  of  its  antiquity.  See  the  plate 
at  letter  G,  where  an  exact  fac  simile  of  this  vessel  is  engraved 
taken  from  the  Journal  of  Science  and  arts,  conducted  by  profes- 
sor Silliman. 

Crucibles  of  earthen  ware,  and  far  better  than  those  now  in  use, 
are  frequently  found  by  the  miners.  By  actual  experiment  they 
are  found  to  endure  the  heat  three  times  as  long  as  the  Hessian 
crucibles,  which  are  the  best  now  in  use.  Bits  of  machinery, 
such  as  is  necessay  in  elevating  the  ore  from  the  depths,  as  used 
by  the  ancient  nations,  are  also  frequently  found  in  the  earth  where 
those  mines  exist,  which  clearly  shows  those  ancients  were  ac- 
quainted with  the  minerals. 

On  the  top  of  Yeona  mountain,  in  the  same  region,  still  exist 
the  remains  of  a  stone  wall,  which  exhibit  the  angles  of  a  fortifi- 
cation, and  guard  the  only  accessible  points  of  ascent  to  its  summit. 
Timber  in  the  Cherokee  country,  bearing  marks  of  the  axe,  (not 
of  stone,)  have  been  taken  up  at  the  depth  often  feet  below  the 
surface.  Indian  tradition,  says  Mr.  Silliman,  gives  no  account  of 
these  remains.  This  article,  which  was  found  in  the  gold  mine  in 
Habersham  county,  formed  of  copper  and  tin,  is  in  this  respect, 
like  the  mining  chisel  described  by  Humboldt,  on  former  page 
of  this  work.  The  timber  found  ten  feet  beneath  the  surface,  in 
Georgia  and  North  Carolina,  bearing  the  marks  of  having  been 


392  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

cut  down  and  cut  in  two  with  axes  of  metal,  are  to  be  referred  to 
the  operations  of  the  Europeans — the  Danes,  Welch,  &c.  of  whom 
we  have  already  spoken  in  several  parts  of  this  volume.  We  con- 
sider them  the  same  with  the  authors  of  the  stone  walls  which  we 
have  mentioned  that  were  found  in  North  Carolina,  and  also  with 
the  authors  of  the  iron  axes,  found  in  a  saltpeter  cave,  on  the  river 
Gasconade,  far  to  the  west,  as  mentioned  in  Beck's  Gazetteer  ; 
and  also  the  same,  with  the  authors  of  the  stone  buildings,  a  foun- 
dation of  one  of  which  is  represented  on  the  plate. —  (&Ve  Frontis- 
piece. ) 

It  would  appear  from  all  this,  that  these  Europeans  had  made 
extensive  settlements  in  various  places,  extending  over  an  immense 
range  of  this  country,  before  they  were  cut  off  by  the  Indians  ;  as 
we  cannot  suppose  any  other  enemy  capable  of  so  dreadful  and 
general  a  slaughter. 

On  the  farm  of  a  Mr.  Richardson, a  highly  respectable  gentleman 
in  Georgia,  Habersham  county,  was  opened  one  of  the  first  gold 
mines  discovered  in  the  southern  states.  At  this  place  a  mos 
singular  discovery  was  also  made,  which  was  as  follows  : 

This  gentleman  being  desirous  of  examining  the  stone  stratum, 
which  formed  the  bed  of  a  small  river,  had  recourse  to  a  dam, 
which  he  carried  across  the  stream,  and  turned  the  whole  of  its 
water  into  a  canal  he  had  excavated  in  a  direction  favoring  the  de- 
scent of  the  stream  ;  so  that  the  bed  where  it  had  flowed  was  left 
dry.  Now  while  digging  and  blasting  the  rocky  bottom  of  this 
stream,  he  found,  at  a  certain  place,  three  feet  below  the  surface, 
imbedded  in  the  solid,  compact  rock,  nearly  a  peck,  or  eight  quarts 
of  flints,  which  were  elegantly  wrought,  for  their  adaptation  to  the 
gun-lock.  Their  form,  however,  in  one  respect,  differs  from  the 
form  of  the  flint  suited  to  fire-arms  now  in  use  ;  and  this  difference 
consists  in  there  being  a  groove  across  the  head  or  thick  end  ot 
the  flint,  showing  that  the  chuck  or  jaws  of  the  cock  of  the  gun  in 
which  they  were  used,  had  a  corresponding  protuberance,  so  that 
the  flint  was  held  by  what  is  called  by  joiners,  a  dove-tail,  instead 
of  a  screw,  as  the  gun-lock  is  now  manufactured. 

The  whole  of  these  curiously  wrought  flints  were  purchased  by 
a  gentleman,  and  carried  to  Milledgeville,  Georgia,where  he  sold 
them  as  curiosities  at  a  quarter  of  a  dollar  each 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST  393 

In  Europe,  the  invention  of  gunpowder,  with  the  flint,  took 
place  in  1340,  one  hundred  and  fifty-two  years  hefore  the  disco- 
very of  America  by  Columbus,  which  was  in  1492.  It  has  been 
conjectured  by  some  that  these  flints  were  lost  by  the  ancient 
Spaniards,  who  were  searching  for  the  ancient  city  in  America, 
called  El  Dorado,  or  the  city  of  gold. 

But  this  will  not  do,  as  it  would  show  that  gunpowder  had  been 
discovered  by  the  Spaniards  in  Europe  ;  which,  if  true,  would 
have  been  known  and  ascribed  to  them,  instead  of  to  Swartz,  the 
monk — unless  we  suppose  that  America  had  been  found  by  the 
ancient  Spaniards,  long  enough  ago  to  have  produced  the  forma- 
tion of  the  rock  three  feet  thick,  over  the  spot  where  they  had 
been  placed  or  lost  by  their  last  owner,  which  would  throw  the 
time  of  their  being  left  there  very  far  back. 

We  should,  if  we  can  give  any  plausible  opinion  at  all  on  this 
subject,  incline  to  ascribe  their  invention  and  use  to  Europeans, 
of  the  Danish  and  Welch  description,  who,  we  have  shown, 
found  this  country,  and  settled  in  it  as  early  as  between  the  9th 
aud  10th  centuries,  which  would  give  the  stream  nearly  a  thou- 
sand years  to  increase  its  stony  deposits  to  the  thickness  of  three 
feet,  so  that  if  by  the  upsetting  of  a  boat,  as  they  were  going  up, 
down  or  across  this  stream,  the  flints  were  lost  at  the  bottom  of 
the  water,  and  being  encased  in  a  bag  or  basket,  or  any  suitable 
vessel  to  hold  them,  is  the  reason  why  they  were  found  in  such 
compact  order. 

But  if  this  supposition  is  at  all  plausible,  it  follows  that  the  in- 
vention was  originated  in  America,  as  it  would  have  been  known 
in  Europe,  if  it  had  been  found  out  there  before  those  Europeans 
came  to  America.  The  form  of  the  flint,  as  it  respects  the  manner 
in  which  it  was  held  by  the  chuck  or  lips  of  the  lock,  shows  that 
the  invention  was  but  a  new  one.  Whether  the  lock  was  an  iron, 
copper,  brass  or  wooden  one,  is  unknown,  or  whether  they  had 
yet  found  out  the  adaptation  of  a  gun  barrel,  is  also  unknown  : 
but  some  mode  of  explosion,  by  the  means  of  some  sort  of  combus- 
tible matter,  had  doubtless  been  discovered,  or  the  flint  could  have 
had  no  use. 

That  a  perfect  knowledge  of  this  art  was  in  their  possession, we 
do  not  believe;  as  those  white  people,  with  the  complete  use  and 
knowledge  of  guns,  could  never  have  been  exterminated  by  the 


394  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Indians  or  natives  of  the  country.  And  that  they  were  extermi- 
nated by  the  Indians,  we  prove  from  their  tradition, which  relates 
that  in  the  southern  States,  but  particularly  that  of  Kentucky,  had 
been  once  settled  by  white  people,  and  that  they  had  been  exter- 
minated by  war- 
In  1800,  some  Indians  of  the  Sacs  tribe  were  at  St.  Louis,  who 
on  hearing  it  said  that  Kentucky  was  inhabited  by  white  people, 
expressed  much  astonishment  that  any  person  should  live  in  Ken- 
tucky, as  it  had  been  a  place  where  much  blood  was  shed,  diid 
that  it  was  filled  with  the  manes  or  souls  of  the  butchered  white 
inhabitants,  a  people  who  had  arts  among  them  unknown  to  the 
Indians.  Even  the  word  Kentucky,  the  name  of  the  chief  river 
of  the  State,  signifies  river  of  blood. — (J.  H.  McCulloch's  Re- 
searches in  America,  p.  210  to  213.) 

To  these  people  we  should  think  the  flints  discovered  as  above 
belonged,  and  that  the  use  of  powder,  or  of  some  explosive  mate- 
rial or  other,  by  which,  either  through  a  tube  of  iron,  copper,  or 
wood,  a  bullet  or  arrows  were  discharged,  with  deadly  effect,  as 
we  can  see  no  other  use  to  which  the  flints  could  have  been  ap- 
propriated. 

It  is  said  that  the  ancient  Phoenicians  first  discovered  the  art  of 
manufacturing  tools  from  the  union  of  copper  and  tin,  the  same 
of  which  this  skillet  is  found  to  be  formed;  and  that  of  the  Phoe- 
nicians the  Greeks  and  Romans  learned  the  art,  who  it  is  likely 
communicated  the  same  to  the  ancient  Britons  ;  and  from  these, 
in  process  of  time,  the  Danes,  the  Welch,  the  Scotch,  and  the 
Norwegians,  and  brought  it  with  them  to  the  wilds  of  America. 
Or  if  we  reject  this,  we  may  refer  the  working  of  those  mines  of 
gold,  not  to  the  Malays,  Polynesian,  and  Australasian  tribes;  but 
rather  to  the  more  enlightened  nations  of  Egypt,  Phoenicia, Greece, 
Rome,  Media,  Persia, Germany,  all  of  whom,  as  we  believe,  have 
from  time  to  time — from  era  to  era,  furnished  emigrants  to  this 
country. 

In  evidence,  in  part,  of  this  belief,  we  refer  the  reader  to  such 
parts  of  this  volume  as  attempt  to  make  this  appear,  and  especially 
to  page  116  ;  where  an  account  of  the  Phoenician  characters, 
as  having  been  discovered  in  America,  is  mentioned.  But  how 
the  article  of  copper,  the  skillet  of  which  we  have  spoken,  and 
is  engraved  on    the    plate, — and    how  the  timber,  which   bears 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  895 

he  mark  of  the  axe,  found  buried  in  various  places  in  North 
Carolina,  came  to  be  buried  so  deep, — is  a  question  of  no  small 
moment. 

Surely  the  natural  increase  of  earth,  by  the  decay  of  vegetables 
and  forests,  could  never  have  buried  them  thus  deep  ;  their  posi- 
tion would  rather  argue  that  they  have  been  submerged  by  the 
sudden  rush  of  waters.  As  favoring  this  opinion,  we  notice  that 
the  mountain  ranges  here  are  such  as  cross  the  rivers  flowing 
from  the  west,  whicb  pass  off  to  the  sea,  through  North  Carolina, 
South  Carolina  and  Georgia.  See  the  map  of  those  States,  when 
at  once  this  appears  to  be  the  real  formation  and  course  of  the 
mountains. 

One  of  these  ranges  is  denominated  the  Yeona  range,  which 
gives  off  three  separate  sections  ;  one  in  Tennessee,  one  in  west- 
ern North  Carolina,  and  one  in  Georgia,  all  running  along  the 
western  ends  of  these  States,  which  lie  along  the  Atlantic.  The 
Blue  Ridge  and  the  Wuaka  mountains  approach  each  other,  and 
form  jointly  the  separation  of  the  east  from  the  west  waters.  As 
this  range  continues  from  the  west,  another  range  not  less  formi- 
dable approaches  from  the  north.  These  are  the  Waldus  Ridge 
and  Cumberland  mountains,  which  unite  themselves  with  the  for- 
mer; where  this  union  takes  place,  it  is  called  Lookout  mountain. 
At  this  point  of  intersection,  where  the  union  of  immense  moun- 
tains on  either  side  formed  a  barrier  to  the  streams  which  flowed 
from  fifty  thousand  square  miles  of  country,  the  waters  broke 
through. 

The  evidence  at  this  place  of  the  war  of  the  elements,  is  the 
admiration  of  all  who  pass  the  broken  mountain,  through  what  is 
called  the  suck  or  boiling  cauldron,  near  the  confines  of  the  State 
of  Tennessee.  At  this  place,  the  vast  accumulation  of  waters,  it 
is  evident,  broke  through  and  deluged  the  country  below,  toward 
the  sea,  overwhelming  whatever  settlements  the  Danes,  or  other 
people  of  the  old  world  may  have  made  there,  especially  along  the 
lowest  grounds,  till  the  waters  were  drained  to  the  Atlantic  :  this 
position  easily  accounts  for  the  appearances  of  such  articles  as 
have  been  disinterred,  with  that  of  timber,  from  the  depths  men- 
tioned in  the  Journal  of  Science.  Such  a  circumstance  may  have 
gone  far  to  weaken  the  prowess  of  those  nations,  so  that  the  sur- 
vivors dwelling  on  the  highest   grounds,  could  not  recover  their 


396  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

numbers,  their  order,  their  state  of  defence  and  security,  against 
the  Indians  farther  west, who  it  is  likely  watched  all  opportunities 
to  destroy  them. 

Finally,  from  all  we  can  gather  on  this  momentous  subject,  we 
are  compelled  from  the  overwhelming  amount  of  evidence  to  admit 
that  mighty  nations,  with  almost  unbounded  empire,  with  various 
degrees  of  improvement,  have  occupied  the  continent,  and  that,  as 
in  the  old  world,  empire  has  succeeded  empire,  rising  one  out  of 
the  other,  from  the  jarring  interests  of  the  unwieldy  and  ferocious 
mass — so  also  in  this. 

And  also,  that  convulsion  has  succeeded  convulsion,  deluge  suc- 
ceeded deluge,  breaking  down  mountains,  the  barriers  of  rivers, 
deranging  and  destroying  the  ancient  surface,  till  it  has  at  length 
assumed  a  settled  and  more  permanent  state  of  things,  where  the 
millions  of  the  present  race  now  inhabit. 

But  the  majestic  yet  fearful  work  of  change  and  revolution,  is 
doubtless  going  on  in  other  worlds  or  planets  as  well  as  this,  for 
wherever  is  the  principle  of  life  and  motion,  whether  it  belongs  to 
organized  and  animated  nature,  or  to  the  elements  of  which  the 
earth  is  composed,  the  operation  of  revolution  can  but  be  going 
forward. 

It  is  believed  and  asserted  by  astronomers  as  their  opinion,  ob- 
tained from  telescopic  observation,  that  the  moon,  the  satellite  of 
the  earth,  is  a  globe  in  ruins,  or  if  not  so,  it  at  least  is  frequently 
much  convulsed  by  the  operations  of  volcanic  fires.  Its  surface, 
as  seen  through  the  glasses,  is  found  extremely  mountainous,  pre- 
senting an  infinite  variety  of  pointed  mountains,  overhanging 
ranges  of  ledge  and  precipice,  with  vales  and  flat  regions  embo- 
somed between.  Consequently,  a  great  number  of  rivers,  creeks, 
lakes  and  small  seas  must  divide  the  land  of  this  globe  into  a 
vast  number  of  tracts  of  country,  which  are  doubtless  filled  with 
animals, — consequently  with  rational  beings  in  the  form  of  men, 
as  ourselves,  for  we  can  conceive  of  none  other,  as  fitted  to 
preside  over  its  animals.  The  same  we  believe  of  all  the  stars  of 
heaven. 

In  exact  accordance  with  this  doctrine  of  change,  as  it  respects 
the  removal  of  entire  worlds,  the  Scriptures  are  full  of  allusions 
to  such  a  catastrophe  yet  to  take  place.  And  why  should  it  not  1 
as  He  who  made  the  worlds  also  dictated  the  composition  of  that 


AND    DISCOVERIES    IN    THE    WEST.  397 

book,  and  can  therefore  be  supposed  as  able  to  signify,  before- 
hand,the  great  change  which  awaits  our  earth,  as  is  plainly  found 
recorded  in  it,  and  that  change  to  be  effected  by  the  agency  of 
fire,  as  is  supposed  to  operate  in  the  moon. 

That  fires  do  convulse  that  planet,  is  shown  from  the  cerolithis, 
or  hot  stones  frequently  thrown  through  the  moon's  atmosphere, 
from  its  surface  or  interior,  by  the  force  or  power  of  volcanos, 
which  have  in  a  hundred  instances  fallen  to  our  earth,  of  different 
magnitudes,  in  different  ages  of  the  world,  which  among  the  an- 
cient nations  was  supposed  to  be  cast  down  from  the  gods  as  ob- 
jects of  adoration,  and  their  representatives. 

But,  whatever  changes  are  observed  to  be  in  progress,  either 
in  our  globe,  or  its  companion  the  moon,  may  also  be  supposed 
to  succeed  and  be  in  progression  with  other  worlds,  planets  or 
fixed  stars,  both  as  to  the  revolution  of  their  surfaces,  and  their 
final  extinction  from  the  firmament  where  they  are  now  situated, 
is  concerned. 

In  that  most  philosophical  work,  the  Bible,  yet  by  some  but  lit- 
tle thought  of,  are  prophetical  accounts  of  the  final  ruin  of  this 
earth  by  the  agency  of  fire, the  same  element  by  which  all  animal 
or  vegetable  life  are  sustained  and  perpetuated,  one  of  the  bright- 
est proofs  of  the  power  and  wisdom  of  God  afforded  in  the  material 
universe.  But  the  destruction  contemplated  is  only  to  cause  room 
and  opportunity  for  a  grander  display  of  the  adaptation  of  another 
order  of  things,  suited  to  such  beings  as  have  passed  through  the 
incipient  degrees  of  the  infancy  of  an  intellectual  state,  and  shall 
be  found  by  him  who  is  the  judge  of  all  virtue,  worthy  to  be  in- 
stalled in  those  exalted  degrees  of  reasonable  and  tremendous  an- 
gelic powers. 

We  will  just  recount  some  of  those  predictions  :  See  2d  Peter 
chapter  iii.,  verse  7.  "But  the  heavens  and  the  earth,  which 
are  note,  are  kept  in  store,  reserved  unto  fire,  against  the  day 
of  judgment."  And  at  the  tenth  verse,  "  The  heavens  shall 
pass  away,  with  a  great  noise,  and  the  elements  shall  melt  with 
heat.  The  earth  also,  and  the  works  that  are  therein,  shall  be 
burnt  up." 

Much  more  relative  to  the  same  point  is  found  in  the  same  book, 
which  to  corroborate  by  occurrences  in  the  great  field  of  the  as- 
tronomical  or  planetary   heavens,  we  give  the  following  from 


398  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

Good's  Book  of  Nature,  a  work  whose  praise  is  found  in  the  lab- 
ratory  of  philosophical  truth,  p.  33  :  "First  lecture  on  matter  and 
the  material  loorld" 

"  But  worlds  and  systems  of  worlds  are  not  only  perpetually 
creating  by  tb«  hand  of  God,  but  are  also  perpetually  diminishing 
and  disappearing  It  is  an  extraordinary  fact,  that  within  the 
period  of  the  last  century,  not  less  than  thirteen  stars,  in  different 
constellations,  none  below  the  sixth  magnitude,  seem  totally  to 
have  perished — forty  to  have  changed  their  magnitude,  by  becom- 
ing either  much  larger  or  much  smaller,  and  ten  new  stars  to 
have  supplied  the  places  of  those  that  are  lost.  Some  of  these 
changes  may  perhaps  be  accounted  for,  by  supposing  a  motion  in 
the  solar,  or  sidereal  systems,  by  which  the  relative  positions  of 
several  of  the  heavenly  bodies  have  varied.  But  this  explanation, 
though  it  may  apply  •*»  several  of  the  cases,  will  by  no  means 
apply  to  all  of  them.  In  many  instances  it  is  unquestionable  that 
the  stars  (or  suns)  themselves,  the  supposed  habitations  of  other 
kinds  or  orders  of  intelligent  beings,  together  with  the  different 
planets  by  which  it  is  probable  they  were  surrounded,  and  to 
which  they  may  have  given  light  and  productive  seasons,  as  the 
sun  gives  light  and  fruitfulness  to  our  earth,  have  utterly  vanish- 
ed, and  the  spots  which  they  occupied  in  the  heavens  have  become 
blanks." 

But  there  are  other  instances  of  the  disappearance  of  stars  from 
the  heavens.  One  hundred  and  twenty-five  years  before  Christ, 
it  is  recorded  by  Hipparchus  that  an  extraordinary  luminary  ap- 
peared suddenly  in  the  firmament,  but  disappeared  in  the  course 
of  a  few  years. 

In  389  A.  D.,  a  star  blazed  forth  near  Aquilae,  remained  three 
weeks  shining  as  bright  as  Venus,  and  then  was  seen  no  more. 
Tyco  Brahe  mentions  the  sudden  appearance  of  a  star  as  large 
and  bright  as  Sirius,  in  the  constellation  Caseiopeia,  and  for  a 
while  was  visible  even  at  mid-day,  but  in  the  course  of  the  year 
began  to  fade  away,  exhibiting  all  the  signs  of  conflagration,  and 
disappeared  in  March,  1574.  Instances  of  the  kind  are  mentioned 
by  Sir  John  Herschel,  one  in  particular  which  was  situated  in  the 
head  of  the  constellation  Swan,  in  1670. 

Such  is  the  demonstration  of  change  and  revolution  in  the  im- 
mensity of  God's  works,which  is  no  doubt  agreeable  to  the  beauty 


AND    DI8COVERIE8    IN    THE    WEST.  399 

and  harmony  of  the  whole,  proceeding  on  principles  too  deep,  too 
abstruse  for  human  research  to  penetrate. 

Therefore,  in  addition  to  all  the  changes  which  the  earth  has 
undergone,  from  general  or  local  causes,  it  is  yet  to  pass  through 
another  still  more  wonderful;  and  whether  the  matter  of  which  it 
is  now  composed  will  assume  some  other  form,  and  be  adapted  to 
other  states  of  being,  or  shall  utterly  vanish  and  be  annihilated,  is 
unknown,  yet  it  appears  no  less  than  thirteen  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  have  passed  away  but  a  little  while  since,  as  shown  above. 
Says  Mr.  Good,  "What  has  thus  befallen  other  systems  will  as- 
suredly befall  our  own." 

That  the  globe,  the  place  where  immense  myriads  of  human 
beings  have  originated,  and  shall  yet  originate,  is  to  be  removed, 
and  give  place  to  another  order  of  things,  is  justified  not  only  in 
that  great  storehouse  of  moral  philosophy  and  religious  truth,  the 
Bible,  but  also  in  the  movements  and  changes  of  the  heavenly 
bodies,  as  above  noticed.  Yet,  as  evident  as  it  is  that  nature 
in  her  march  corroborates  that  book,  in  which  is  found  the  only 
reasonable  and  consistent  account  of  the  beginning  of  things,  the 
creation  of  this  globe  and  the  other  luminaries  of  the  universe, 
there  are  found  immense  numbers  of  men,who  but  yesterday  had 
no  being,  advocating  the  doctrine  of  the  eternity  of  matter,  to  the 
exclusion  of  a  Creator — as  if  nature  were  unoriginated  and  inde- 
pendent. 

But  as  nature  is  every  where  stamped  with  the  footsteps  and 
tokens  of  intellectual  arrangement,  throughout  all  her  ramifica- 
tions, we  come  to  the  conclusion  that  she  must  have  been  produ- 
ced by  an  intellectual  being  ;  as  nature,  in  and  of  herself,  gives 
no  evidence  of  thought,  or  of  one  trait  of  optional  power, — a  cir- 
cumstance exceedingly  strange,  as  we  cannot  conceive  how  that 
which  cannot  think,  can  originate  beings  who  can. 

Wherefore,  there  must  be  a  God,  who  is  an  unoriginated,  in- 
dependent, and  an  eternal  being  ;  as  on  this  belief  the  mind  rests, 
and  derives  a  peculiar  pleasure — not  afforded  by  the  contrary 
opinion,  as  that  matter  or  nature  is  the  only  directing  and  procur- 
ing cause  of  things,  which  cannot  be. 

If,  then,  there  is  such  a  being,  he  is  the  natural  governor  of 
the  universe,  and  especially  of  the  intellectual  beings  who  inhabit 
it.  If,then,  he  is  its  governor,  it  should  be  expected  that  he  should 


400  AMERICAN    ANTIQUITIES 

announce  himself,  giving  some  account  of  his  nature  and  char- 
acter, and  withal,  the  conditions  of  his  government  over  intellec- 
tual beings.  This  we  believe  has  been  done,  and  that  the  Bible  is 
the  statute  of  that  announcement,  as  it  bears  the  character  of  so- 
briety and  consistency,  as  well  as  unparalleled  majesty  of  thought 
and  diction,  which  no  other  book  on  the  globe  can  claim.  It  is  in 
this  book,  which  in  one  sense,  may  be  styled  the  book  of  the  an- 
tiquities of  time  and  eternity;  that  it  is  said,  that  this  earth  shall 
be  removed,  and  shall  give  place  to  another,  at  which  time  a  con- 
vulsion that  shall  shake  the  solar  system  will  take  place. 

At  that  time,  according  to  this  great  record,  as  prophesied  of 
by  the  ancient  seers,  the  whole  human  family,  with  innumerable 
hosts  of  angelic  beings,  shall  be  present  at  this  overturn  of  na- 
ture; when  the  great  machinery  of  this  system  shall  have  run 
down,  and  a  new  one  be  instituted  in  its  place,  of  a  different  cha- 
racter and  for  different  purposes  ;  and  mightier  and  more  varied 
displays  of  Omnipotent  power  and  wisdom  be  brought  to  view, 
from  the  deep  cabinet  of  the  eternal  energy. 


